KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines said a technical defect of an engine on its 747-400 saw the London-bound MH2 flight, originally scheduled to depart KLIA last night, to be rescheduled to this morning.
The plane left KLIA at midnight, only to turn back to the airport at 2.05 am. On board were 351 passengers and 21 operating crew.
MAS, which issued a statement 12 hours after the incident happened, said the aircraft was grounded upon arrival.
The 747-400, which has been in service with Malaysia Airlines for more than 10 years, is powered by the Pratt & Whitney 4056 engines.
“A rescue aircraft was arranged with a fresh set of crew to continue the flight to London, scheduled to depart KLIA again at 1030am today,” it said. The plane finally departed KLIA at 10.34am.
The national carrier said it provided full board hotel accommodation the passengers.
Meanwhile, a passenger Datuk Ahirudin Attan, wrote in his blog rocky’s bru, that the plane had been in the air for 10 to 15 seconds before hearing a “huge, ugly "thud".
“ ... immediately those who had flown enough times knew something had gone awry. The big bird shuddered and then someone said "Fire!".
“A stewardess was running up the aisle to the First Class cabin, followed by a male colleague. I did not see any fire; I was at the window seat on the 16th row, just a few seats before the four engines of the 747, and the engine that we lost was on the left wing.”
He complimented the airline’s cabin crew for allaying passengers’ fears and that they were cool despite their own, and “continued to engage us well throughout the 90 minutes that the aircraft had to circle low over KLIA to dump fuel for the landing.”
Meanwhile, Boeing said it is waiting for a full report from Malaysia Airlines on the incident.
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