Losing an engine on take-off
Discussion
Flying from Gatwick to Belfast last Saturday morning with EasyJet, A320 I think although wasn't looking too closely, but it usually is on that flight. I'm sitting RHS window seat a couple of rows behind the wing.
A few seconds after takeoff and immediately after the landing gear has raised there is a loud bang and bright flash from the engine. My first I thought was a lightening strike but it wasn't really the weather for it. We seem to stop climbing and just carry on straight at low altitude, by then I'm thinking we're going to be heading back to Gatwick as something must be wrong, but no. The Captain makes an announcement to the cabin crew, I can't remember the exact phrase but it certainly wasn't 'start serving the drinks'. We can hear a lot of drawers or cupboards being opened and shut by the crew at the rear behind us.
The lady in the window seat in the row in front of me is very, and I mean very, anxious about all this and understandably presses the cabin crew call button.
After a few minutes we seem to start climbing again. Cabin crew come to the lady and spend some time reassuring her and make her and her partner a cup of tea etc. They say the Captain will be making an announcement, which he does shortly afterwards. He says "we may have felt 'some vibration' earlier, it was caused by too much air rushing through the engine which caused it to stall. This happens sometimes, the engine has been restarted, we are monitoring it closely but otherwise happy to continue to Belfast. Nothing to worry about."
The rest of the flight passes without incident if a little nervously as you might imagine.
Just wondered is this really a normal occurrence? It did make me concerned, certainly. I know we're told planes are built to fly on one engine but even so.
We were in the queue to take off from Gatwick for 90 mins, and on the runway we did seem to be a very long time before lift off. Do jet engines not like 'sitting idling' for long periods? I've no idea.
Any thoughts from the experts?
A few seconds after takeoff and immediately after the landing gear has raised there is a loud bang and bright flash from the engine. My first I thought was a lightening strike but it wasn't really the weather for it. We seem to stop climbing and just carry on straight at low altitude, by then I'm thinking we're going to be heading back to Gatwick as something must be wrong, but no. The Captain makes an announcement to the cabin crew, I can't remember the exact phrase but it certainly wasn't 'start serving the drinks'. We can hear a lot of drawers or cupboards being opened and shut by the crew at the rear behind us.
The lady in the window seat in the row in front of me is very, and I mean very, anxious about all this and understandably presses the cabin crew call button.
After a few minutes we seem to start climbing again. Cabin crew come to the lady and spend some time reassuring her and make her and her partner a cup of tea etc. They say the Captain will be making an announcement, which he does shortly afterwards. He says "we may have felt 'some vibration' earlier, it was caused by too much air rushing through the engine which caused it to stall. This happens sometimes, the engine has been restarted, we are monitoring it closely but otherwise happy to continue to Belfast. Nothing to worry about."
The rest of the flight passes without incident if a little nervously as you might imagine.
Just wondered is this really a normal occurrence? It did make me concerned, certainly. I know we're told planes are built to fly on one engine but even so.
We were in the queue to take off from Gatwick for 90 mins, and on the runway we did seem to be a very long time before lift off. Do jet engines not like 'sitting idling' for long periods? I've no idea.
Any thoughts from the experts?
Edited by stevep944 on Tuesday 25th February 20:17
Thanks for all the replies, which are interesting to me as a passenger with no great technical knowledge.
I would add that:
Apart from me and the couple of rows of window seats in front I would think nobody else was aware of anything happening, especially as most passengers have headphones on these days.
The cabin staff definitely did not seem to be going about their normal duties for a while after it happened, but they weren't running around in a panic either!
We carried on at low altitude, definitely not climbing, for a few minutes. I was thinking if we weren't turning back to Gatwick maybe we were heading to Southampton or somewhere.
When we got off the plane at Belfast there was an 'aircraft maintenance van' parked under the wing.
It is nice to know how highly EasyJet and our other airlines are regarded safety-wise.
Cheers all.
I would add that:
Apart from me and the couple of rows of window seats in front I would think nobody else was aware of anything happening, especially as most passengers have headphones on these days.
The cabin staff definitely did not seem to be going about their normal duties for a while after it happened, but they weren't running around in a panic either!
We carried on at low altitude, definitely not climbing, for a few minutes. I was thinking if we weren't turning back to Gatwick maybe we were heading to Southampton or somewhere.
When we got off the plane at Belfast there was an 'aircraft maintenance van' parked under the wing.
It is nice to know how highly EasyJet and our other airlines are regarded safety-wise.
Cheers all.
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