Turkish Airlines flight suffers mid-air engine failure; hovers for 4 hours before landing

An ill-fated Turkish Airlines Airbus which departed for Johannesburg encountered a technical snag in its engine mid-air and made an emergency landing at the Istanbul airport on September 8. According to the reports by Simple Flying, the flight made a safe emergency landing after hovering over Istanbul for four hours. The media report said that the Turkish Airlines flight TK42 departed from Istanbul International Airport at 02:02 AM, almost 15 minutes behind its scheduled time. During the initial climb, the flight's left engine emitted several loud noises and flames for a few seconds.

Though the flight was scheduled for a 10-hour-long journey, due to engine failure the pilot announced an emergency landing. In the meantime, some of the terrifying passengers onboard who were seated on the same side captured the video of the incident and later uploaded it on the microblogging site. "This flight’s left side engine just exploded just after we take off from Istanbul," a passenger named MASTER KG wrote along with the video. “For a minute I thought it was over! GOD is Amazing big up to the Pilots," he added. Have a look at the video:

Pilot's swift decision saves hundreds of lives

Apprehending the engine failure, the pilot reacted swiftly and decided to land at the same airport where it took off minutes ago. However, landing back was not as simple as it seemed because the flight was scheduled to fly for nearly 10 hours and therefore the airline company took off with maximum fuel. As the flight was fully loaded with fuel, the experienced pilot decided to reduce some load by hovering in the air.

According to Simple Flying, the aircraft took more than 20 head-spinning circuits over the Black Sea to burn fuel. It is worth mentioning landing an aircraft that is full of fuel can experience hard landing or invite hazardous accidents. The media report claimed that the flight spent nearly four hours before landing at the Istanbul international airport at 06:28 local time. Luckily, no one on board was injured in the incident, however, the passengers had to wait for more than five hours to take another flight for Johannesburg. 

Alaska Airlines flight carries out emergency evacuation

Earlier in August this year, Alaska Airlines flight had carried out an emergency evacuation at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after a passenger's mobile caught fire minutes after the flight touch-down the runway. According to media reports, the passenger was using a Samsung smartphone. However, no one was injured seriously during the incident, informed the airport officials.

The report also said that Alaska Airlines, with 128 passengers and six crew members, took off from New Orleans and was scheduled to land in Seattle in the evening. Though the flight landed safely, an abrupt fire forced the airport authorities to evacuate the passengers quickly. 

(Image: Twitter/ Turkish Airlines)