British Airways makes Emergency Landing at Vancouver International Airport

A British Airways flight was forced to make an emergency landing at Vancouver International Airport due to an overheating engine. The flight had been en route for London early Saturday morning when one of the 4 engines on the Boeing 747-400 started abnormally vibrating.

Spokesman John Lampl said that the flight crew detected an engine surge, which is similar to a car backfiring, about 30 minutes into the flight. They followed procedure, shut off the engine and went back to Vancouver, he added.

Vancouver Airport Authority spokeswoman Kate Donegani said that Richmond Fire and Rescue Services, BC Ambulance and emergency airfield services at the airport were alerted and standing by for the landing. The airport’s operations team reported that the plane landed safely, she continued, and the plane taxied back to a gate to let the 262 passengers disembark.

Transportation Safety Board spokesman Bill Yearwood talked to the pilots that evening. Apparently a surge drew their attention to the performance and temperature reading of the engine. The plane got to between 10,000ft and 11,000ft, the temperature exceeded normal, prompting the pilots to shut the engine off, he continued. They kept climbing and duped some fuel, he explained, then returned to Vancouver. The board will be working with British Airways to determine the cause of the malfunction, if there was one, as temperature surges can be caused by many things.

Airline spokesman Lampl said that the passengers were unharmed and accommodated in hotels for the night. British Airways was set to arrange for them to get on different flights with them or with other airlines, he added.