panic on board after engine failure

This text corresponds to part of the transcription of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in full.

The Paris-Charles de Gaulle has been operating its flight for 37 minutes on Saturday evening, when suddenly the aircraft begins to shake. Strong vibrations inside and outside, behind the porthole, flames. A ball of fire captured by stunned passengers. There were 172 on board, plus six crew members. A woman tells us: “A big detonation, flames, a second detonation, flames, and she was next to the jacket and I was next to the wing, so really, we saw everything. We all started screaming. In the plane, everything went out, the lights, even the engines, we felt that there was nothing left and we felt that the plane was going down.”.

At Orly, Saturday December 20, the Air France Airbus A320 takes off at 5:21 p.m. It is due to land at 6:50 p.m. in Ajaccio (Corsica), but it is diverted to Lyon (Rhône). Emergency landing with one engine at 6:26 p.m. “You see people crying, children screaming, cabin crew with closed faces. Some flight attendants had tears in their eyes”testifies Charlotte Césari, one of the passengers.

So what happened? When asked, the company mentioned, I quote: “An engine pumping problem”. Clearly, the air no longer circulates correctly inside the reactor, which can cause sparks or even flames behind the engine. “Most of the time, engine pumping is linked more to the ingestion of a bird which will prevent the air flow from continuing normally in the reactor. But it can also be a compressor which will stall occasionally, for example, when we experience turbulence”explains Xavier Tytelman, aeronautical and defense consultant.

For its part, Air France wants to be reassuring: “Engine pumping is a known and controlled event. The crews undergo regular training, several times a year, to manage this type of event”. Yesterday, no one was injured in the incident, but some passengers are considering filing a complaint for endangering the lives of others.