Two planes diverted back to Hong Kong, with engine problems affecting Dragonair flight
No injuries aboard either one, but a flight attendant on KA212 describes hearing explosions underfoot
A pair of Dragonair and Cathay Pacific planes diverted back to Hong Kong shortly after take-off on Tuesday, with one jet suffering from engine problems and the other from toilet issues.
The Dragonair flight to Phuket took off at 8.55am on Tuesday with 148 passengers aboard the Airbus A321, but problems emerged during the take-off phase with explosions heard.
The incident on flight KA212 came to light after a photo captured by Terry Chan posted on a Hong Kong Aviation Discussion Board on Facebook showed an orange and red streak emerging from the stricken left engine, which looked similar to the aftermath of a bird strike or an engine fire.
An airline spokeswoman stressed there had been no engine fire and described the colourful image as a phenomenon similar to that of a racing car exhaust pipe whose gas temperature abruptly increased. Cockpit indicators showed the temperature was at a higher-than-normal level.
The aircraft landed safely without further incident.
“Dragonair conducts aircraft inspection and maintenance regularly in accordance with the industry standard and manufacturer’s guidelines,” the spokeswoman said.
The flight attendant described hearing two explosions from “under our feet” at take-off, prompting the senior purser to inform the captain there was an issue with the left engine.
“After a few bumps I was afraid the right engine would be turned off too,” the flight attendant said. “I prayed and said to God we had to come back safely. I thought of a number of possibilities: evacuation commands, evacuation drill, door operation on the [Airbus] A321 if we ditched in the water.”
Meanwhile, a Cathay Pacific flight bound for Zurich took off late Tuesday but returned to Hong Kong on Wednesday at 1.40am after the toilet’s flushing system developed technical problems. The aircraft returned to service about 12 hours later to fly to Los Angeles.
An airline spokeswoman said CX383 suffered “a malfunction of its toilet flushing system”.
Cathay Pacific is the parent company of Dragonair.
