Saturday, January 23, 2010

Air Consi flight 234 emergency lands in Zurich

From the Consi Tribune
Air Consi flight 234 from Consi to Frankfurt emergency landed in Zurich after a jet engine on the Lego Aeronautical Systems L-3181 caught on fire. Upon landing, the fire was quickly put out by firefighters on the ground. All passengers and crew were evacuated safely.

Flight 234 took off 9:10 PM local time. While entering Swiss airspace, the engine caught fire. The pilot Captain Hans Durmand quickly maneuvered the plane with one engine to Zurich Kloten Airport, the nearest airport where the plane could land. Fire trucks met the plane on the ground putting out the fire in the engine.

Passenger David Ross explained what he experienced. "We were flying and all the sudden there was a loud 'bang!' A couple seconds later the pilot came on and said we would be making an emergency landing. You could smell the smoke coming in from the flaming jet. So the flight attendants got everyone from the back of the plane to empty seats in the front."

The plane named "Arali" registration CO-AIY sustained heavy damage to the right engine minimal damage to the rear, and will fly again. It is confirmed that the cause of the fire was because bearings on the rotor of the jet failed causing gas to build up, making the jet explode. Air Consi spokesman Emanuel Redd said the incident could have been avoided, and a routine maintenance check would have detected the problem.

CO-AIY is currently at Zurich and is scheduled to be flown back to Consi on an Antanov AN-124 on January 27. This is the first ever incident for Air Consi since it began operations in 1934 as Consian Air Service with a daily flight to Wuster, Saljbrikjia.

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