Two versions of Superman on film
have noted that flying is the safest form of travel, ironically after saving
people from a crashing aircraft or other. And arguably that pronouncement is
true; statisticians have noted that one is more likely to be hit by lightning
than be involved in an airplane crash, though the latter is more heavily
covered by the media when they occur, making them seem more common. And for
people who actually get caught up in them, statistics mean nothing. The
passengers of a recently troubled Philippine Airlines flight might agree.
Thankfully their story ended quite positively.
CNN Philippines reports that Philippine Airlines (PAL) Flight
PR113, bound for Manila from Los Angeles this Friday, November 22 (Philippine
time), experienced a technical problem with one of its engines and was forced
to return to its point of origin at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). To
be precise, its right-wing engine started spewing out smoke and flames a short
while after takeoff. Thankfully that meant Flight PR113 has barely gotten far
from LAX, allowing it to perform an emergency landing after the airport was alerted
of the dangerous situation.
An official statement from PAL
reveals that the incident at Flight PR113 occurred two minutes after the Boeing
777 airliner’s departure from LAX at 11:45 AM LA time Thursday (or 3:45 AM
Friday). “There was a problem at engine 2 which resulted in a release of
flames,” said PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna. Despite the alarm it caused
however, the pilots and flight crew, 18 persons in all, kept control of the
situation and performed the emergency landing without incident. The 347
passengers then allegedly applauded when the aircraft touched down at around 12
noon local time, as reported by PR113 Captain Tristan Simeon. Even better, the engine
fire was actually extinguished completely by that time.
Following the harrowing
experience, no injuries among the passengers and crew were reported, and the
former have been quickly accommodated in rebooking their flights back to
Manila. One of these lucky people, Geri Camahort Lamata, was able to record footage
of the engine fire seen from her window seat view and shared it on her Facebook
page. PAL meanwhile will be grounding the 777 that flew PR113 for three days
pending an investigation, although they are treating what happened as an
isolated incident.
The manufacturer Boeing (aircraft)
and General Electric (engine) have yet to issue their own statements on this.
It should be recalled that the aircraft-building giant is still in hot water
with its 737 airliners which have featured in accidents.
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