(Trinidad Guardian) An American Airlines flight due to depart Piarco for Miami at 5.31 am yesterday was delayed for three hours after flight control officers spotted what they thought was a fire in the airline’s right engine.
The flight was at the time taxiing in preparation for take-off when the alarm was raised.
Guardian Media acquired the recording of interactions between the Airport Authority’s Apron Control and the pilot of flight AA2282, as a female tower officer first raised the concern.
“American 2282…errr….just be advised, Apron just called and said that there appears to be flames on your Number 2 engine. Can you confirm?”
The pilot replied: “I’m sorry. What’d you say, you saw flames on Number 2?”
At that point, a male ground control officer intervened.
“It appears to be some sort of light up in the engine…Number 2,” he said.
The pilot then radioed back to say thanks and told the Piarco personnel that he would check on it. Within a minute, he returned another message, “Tower, this is American 2282. Would you get the fire department out here?”
The aircraft came to a stop as flight control officers communicated with a Caribbean Airlines flight advising that the flight hold, since there was a problem with the American aircraft. The tower then asked the pilot of the American Airlines flight for some key information.
“American 2282, can you confirm fuel on board, souls on board and any hazardous material?”
The pilot replied: “Fuel is at 350 minutes and souls on board, we’ve got 110… no ‘hazmat’.”
The pilot then asked, “you have the fire trucks running towards us right?” to which the tower responded, “yes they’re coming now.”
Another couple of minutes passed before the tower informed the pilot that the Fire Services were attending to the aircraft and directed him to another frequency where he could communicate directly with the fire officers.
The pilot told the fire officers that the report he got from the tower was of a “strange glow or light coming from the Number 2 engine”.
“We’ve shut it down. Would you mind taking a look at it, see if you see anything,” he said.
During a brief discussion between the pilot and the fire officers, it was confirmed that there was no sign of a fire. However, the pilot radioed to say that he wanted to take other precautionary measures.
“What I’d like to do is taxi back to the gate. Do you mind following me back to the gate? I’d just like to do a follow-up in case we have another issue,” he said.
However, with the aircraft full of fuel, passengers and luggage, he then radioed to say that he was having problems moving.
“Fire chief…American 2282. We’re too heavy to taxi on one motor. We’re gonna have to bring a tow-tug to tow us back,” he said.
The ground officers then replied saying that arrangements were being made to have the tow-tug brought to the aircraft.
A statement by the Airports Authority said that the aircraft was able to return safely to the gate. It assured that flight operations at the airport continued as normal and that “there were no reports of injuries to passengers”.
However, it noted that “investigations into the incident are continuing.”
The flight departed three hours later at 8.51 am.
The incident was partially caught on the phone camera of an AATT worker driving a tow-tug who claimed that the airline was on fire.
“American on fire. It on fire I say. It on fireeeeeeeee”, he said, elongating the last word for effect.
The video showed fire appliances around the aircraft.
The UK Independent newspaper recently rated American Airlines in the top 20 safest airlines in the world.
The article cited a rating website, Airlineratings.com, which gave American a full 7-star rating.
American Airlines currently operates two flights out of Trinidad, at 5.31 am and 3.42 pm.
In August 2017, 22 passengers had to be treated for slight injuries after an American Airlines flight encountered severe turbulence as it approached the Piarco International Airport.
The passengers were treated by emergency personnel and some were taken to hospital for medical treatment. None of the injuries was serious.
