Runway closed at Heathrow

[Chromatix]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22664784

A runway was closed at London Heathrow airport yesterday after an emergency landing by an aircraft with an engine on fire. Everyone was evacuated safely.

What's remarkable, but which the media doesn't seem to have picked up on, is that smoke is seen trailing from the *right* engine, but on-board footage shows large cover panels missing from the *left* engine. Faults in both engines simultaneously are very rare and always a major cause for concern, so I'm sure that the inevitable investigation will turn up something important.

[wolfie]

How much smoke was coming from the right engine? It's less common now than in the early days of jets, but with some jet engines it's normal to give off a thin trail of smoke due to incomplete combustion.

[Chromatix]

Enough smoke to be clearly visible in a mobile phone video - the video, BTW, which is right at the top of the linked article - against an overcast sky. Even at full TO/GA power, a modern engine does not normally do that.

Also, photos of the plane after landing show a large pool of fire retardant foam around the right engine, not the left.

[Arcus]

Looking at the pictures I found, the covers from both engine came off, but the left was able to keep working and the right was the one that was on fire. Passengers said that they had heard popping from both sides after the first sound of an impact. Seeing as this happened just after takeoff, I'm wondering if they hit a flock of birds.

[MoonCat]

I think it was this

[Chromatix]

As expected, the AAIB has released a very prompt bulletin outlining the nature and cause of the incident:

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/...31__g_euoe.cfm

The maintenance covers on both engines were left unlatched after maintenance, and they opened and detached on takeoff. The fire in the right engine was caused by a fuel leak occasioned by one of the damaged doors puncturing a fuel pipe on the outer part of the engine. The flight crew should normally have detected the unlatched condition of the doors before takeoff.