Turkish flight makes single-engine full-emergency landing at city airport

Kolkata: A Turkish Airlines flight that took off from Kathmandu for Istanbul with 236 passengers and 11 crew made a single-engine emergency landing in Kolkata at 2.48 pm on Wednesday. All passengers and crew on board are safe.According to airport officials, TK-727 took off from Tribhuvan International Airport at 1.29 pm local time. Even as the aircraft was making the take-off climb, a master warning light accompanied by chime alarms went off. A red warning message ‘ENG 2 FIRE' appeared on the monitoring screen. Acting swiftly, the captain switched off the right engine. The plane then informed Kathmandu ATC it was putting the aircraft on a holding pattern to the west of Kathmandu to assess the situation.
Following checks, the cockpit crew realised a fire may indeed have ignited in the starboard side engine and declared PAN PAN, an international emergency signal for a serious situation needing prompt help but not an immediate life-threatening emergency. With only the left engine available, the pilots knew it was not safe for a nine-hour flight. Although the aircraft had the option to return to Kathmandu or Bhairahawa, the crew decided not to take any risk and diverted the flight to Kolkata.Kathmandu ATC relayed the information about the plane flying on a single engine to Kolkata ATC. The flight captain also radioed Kolkata ATC, sought permission to divert to Kolkata, made a U-turn, and began flying in the south-easterly direction. "When the message about the emergency situation arrived, the plane was cruising at 20,000 ft and crossed Janakpur near the Indo-Nepal border. After giving the nod to the captain, a full emergency landing procedure was rolled out. Since there was a possibility of fire in the right engine, four specialised crash tenders were deployed along with three ambulances," said an airport official.The flight was accorded priority landing when it approached Kolkata. As it hurtled down the runway, the crash tenders and ambulances began a hot pursuit. Thankfully, there was no fire or smoke visible from the engine. "TK-727 reported fire under control at 1.51 pm and proceeded to Kolkata with one engine failure," India's aviation ministry said in a statement.After the plane came to a halt in a remote bay assigned to the flight, the passengers were evacuated and engineers moved in to check the engine. Till reports last came in, the 10-year-old aircraft with twin General Electric engines was grounded. International passengers were issued temporary immigration permits. If the plane remains grounded, Turkish Airlines will arrange for their stay. On Thursday, Turkish Airlines will send a flight at 4 am and depart at 6 am.