A Boeing 737 passenger jet was forced to make an emergency landing after ‘micro-explosions’ caused both engines to catch fire during take-off.
The S7 airline plane with 175 passengers was flying from Novosibirsk – Russia‘s third largest city – to capital city Moscow.
The fires started as the plane was on the runway taking off, passengers said.
The small explosions led to fires in both engines of a Boeing 737, resulting in an emergency landing.
A video filmed by a passenger shows the alarming sight of engine fire at around 6.30am today. The flames can be seen flickering violently in the passenger windows during the nighttime blaze.
The S7 airline plane with 175 passengers was flying from Novosibirsk – Russia’s third largest city – to capital city Moscow. The fires started as the plane was on the runway taking off, passengers said
A video filmed by a passenger shows the alarming sight of engine fire at around 6.30am today. The flames can be seen flickering violently in the passenger windows during the nighttime blaze
The flames inside the cabin seen through the windows
‘While climbing, sparks and flames suddenly flew from both engines,’ reported Shot media.
‘The right engine, next to which I was sitting, caught fire while still on the runway, several flames burst out,’ said one passenger.
‘We took off and it flared up once every 10 to 20 seconds.
‘Then the second engine caught fire, and they flashed simultaneously.’
The pilots immediately called for an emergency landing and brought the aircraft down safely at Novosibirsk’s Tolmachevo Airport with no casualties among passengers or crew.
The emergency services were on ‘high alert’ for the landing which came some 20 minutes after take-off, according to those on board.
The captain told the passengers on landing that both engines were ‘out of order’ and the aircraft needed to be towed from the runaway after the brakes overheated.
‘During landing, the captain said that the brakes caught fire,’ a passenger told ASTRA media.
‘All passengers have already got off.’
They were bussed to the terminal and told they would have to wait eight hours for a replacement plane to fly them to Moscow.
The cause was engine surging – a ‘violation of gas-dynamic stability with micro-explosions’, reported the Eastern Interregional Investigation Department for Transport of the Russian Investigative Committee.
The fires started as the plane was on the runway taking off, said passengers.
It is the second day in succession that Russia has been hit by such a terrifying incident.
A day earlier a Tu-204 cargo aircraft suffered an engine ‘explosion’ heard from the ground after take-off from Ulan-Ude, also in Siberia.
A day earlier a Tu-204 cargo aircraft suffered an engine ‘explosion’ heard from the ground after take-off from Ulan-Ude, also in Siberia. Flames can be seen during the flight
The aircraft on fire yesterday after take-off from Ulan-Ude in Siberia
Footage showed the aircraft ablaze as it jettisoned fuel and made an emergency landing
Footage showed the aircraft ablaze as it jettisoned fuel and made an emergency landing.
A woman witness Lyubov Pichueva said: ‘I heard a powerful explosion coming from above.
‘At first I thought it was fireworks, but the sound was too strange.’
She said: ‘It was very scary.’
An investigation is underway by the East Siberian Transport Prosecutor’s Office.
Russia is suffering an unprecedented spate of air incidents amid signs that Western sanctions are hampering efforts to maintain and service planes, with problems obtaining spare parts.
Since the spring of 2022, airlines have been requiring staff not to enter equipment defects in flight log books, said one report.
A former Nordwind airline pilot said many pilots are relying on ‘Russian luck.’
In the first eight months of this year, there were 120 air accidents in Russia involving civil aircraft operated by Russian airlines.
This is more than double the number in recent years despite significantly fewer flights as a result of Putin‘s war against Ukraine.