A passenger on board a Regional Express flight from Sydney to Merimbula which suffered engine failure on Thursday night has contradicted the airline’s claim the engine did not catch fire during the incident.
Julian Boot, a passenger on the flight from Sydney to the New South Wales south coast told Guardian Australia on Monday he had been staring at the engine as it “erupted in a ball of fire” during the flight.
“I was about three or four metres from the engine, staring down the exhaust pipe, and I was watching a couple of bright sparks coming out,” he said.
“Then, literally, the engine erupted in a ball of fire with a big bang. It wasn’t that I heard the noise and looked out the window, I was staring right at it.”
Boot’s comments come as the Australian Transport Safety Bureau announced on Monday it had launched an investigation after the Regional Express flight was forced to land with one engine.
“The ATSB decided to launch an investigation into the in-flight engine shutdown incident on Friday, after evaluating initial information provided by the operator,” a spokesman said.
“Given the very early stages of this investigation we’re unable to provide any further details around the circumstances of the incident, but, as with all our investigations, should a critical safety issue be identified during the course of the investigation the ATSB will immediately notify relevant parties so appropriate action can be taken.”
The Saab 340 aircraft left Sydney at 6.45pm for a two-leg journey that included a stop in Moruya and a second in Merimbula. The plane – which is able to fly with one engine – landed safely and no one on board was injured.
Initial reports described the shutdown as being the result of fire in the engine, but in a joint statement with the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (Casa) released on Friday the airline said “there was no evidence of an engine fire”.
Instead, it said the engine had been shut down after a cockpit sensor alert shortly after taking off from Moruya.
Peter Gibson, a spokesman from Casa, was quoted in the statement as saying the reports of a fire “are probably explained by passengers seeing sparks” but that “observations this morning don’t show the presence of fire”.
But that account has been disputed by Boot, who said he was staring at the engine as the incident unfolded. He said the flame had been about two to three times the diameter of the engine’s cowling, before dying back down. “But it was a continual burning fire for about five minutes,” he said. “It wasn’t just red from heat, it was flickering. Engines if they’re glowing don’t flicker.”
Boot, who flies with the airline regularly, said the pilot and crew had reacted “calmly and professionally” during the incident but that he was “furious” when he read the statement denying a fire had occurred.
“I’m mechanical, I fix stuff, I was literally starting at it, concentrating on the sparks as it unfolded,” he said. “It had my full attention, and I can tell the difference between a ball of fire and a glowing engine.”
“I’m worried about my own personal safety obviously, but I’m also worried for the pilot and crew who are on the planes all the time.”
Despite being quoted in the airline’s press release, when he was contacted by Guardian Australia on Monday, Gibson said no one from the aviation authority had actually inspected the plane. Instead, Casa relied on a report from the airline about what had occurred.
“No, we don’t use our resources for that,” he said. “Our job is to ensure the airline followed safety procedures during the incident.”
Emergency service crews were waiting for the plane at Merimbula airport, and on Monday a spokesman from Fire and Rescue said the logs from the event stated crews were “assessing fire damage [which] appears to be contained to inside [an] external engine”.
The spokesman said logs showed the crew on board the flight had turned on the plane’s fire suppression system before the engine was shut off.
“That’s the initial information that we’re given, which could come from the airport or police,” the spokesman said.
It comes after the airline was forced to deny claims last month that one of its planes was filmed with unrepaired corrosion around the propeller. Sydney’s Daily Telegraph published footage that allegedly showed corrosion on a plane that flew from Kangaroo Island to Adelaide.
The airline also described Casa as “despicable and cowardly” last month after the Sunday Telegraph published details of a 17-page report submitted by the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers’ Association, which accused Rex of pressuring its safety inspectors to ignore faults.
In the joint statement between Rex and Casa on Friday, Gibson was quoted as saying it was “not right to link recent allegations relating to Rex to this incident”.
“People shouldn’t jump to conclusions,” he said.
Regional Express did not respond to questions from Guardian Australia on Monday.
In a statement on Tuesday, the airline restated that passenger accounts of a fire were “probably explained” by sparks from the engine. “This will be further exacerbated due to the flight operating at night,” a spokeswoman said.
“Rex Engineering inspections following the incident showed no evidence of an engine fire,” the spokeswoman said.
“The engine manufacturer, General Electric, has reviewed the case and concur with Rex’s position.
“As already stated, both the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau were immediately informed after the incident and Rex continues to assist both agencies with regular updates which is standard practice in such circumstances.”
