'Eagle' flight Timaru drama

[flyjoe180]

An Air New Zealand flight with 20 passengers made an emergency landing in Timaru on Wednesday morning after a warning light indicated a problem in a engine.

The aircraft was operated by the Air New Zealand subsidary Eagle Air. It is the third aircraft problem for the airline in as many months.

The Jetstream 32 aircraft landed in Timaru without incident at about 7.40am and the passengers were taken by bus to Christchurch.

The airline says the plane aircraft will be inspected and will be out of service for at least the rest of the day.

The incident is the third for the airline. In June, a Beech 1900 aircraft made a spectacular emergency landing at Blenheim airport when its landing gear failed.

Last week, a routine inspection discovered a crack in part of the undercarriage of another Beech 1900 plane; resulting in the fleet being grounded, 60 flights cancelled and 1000 passengers affected.

The Civil Aviation Authority has been notified of the latest incident.

www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200710031205/emergency_landing_made_at_timaru_by_eagle_air_flight

[flyjoe180]

1. Eagle Air contract Air National to fly Jetstream 32's on their behalf, so this is not Eagle Air
2. Warning lights do not necessarily warrant an emergency, I think this has been beefed up by the media
3. The B1900 problems are irrelevant to this episode

[flyjoe180]

This followed up at 6:06pm:

An Air New Zealand flight carrying 19 passengers made an emergency landing in Timaru on Wednesday morning after a warning light indicated an engine problem.

The flight had just left Oamaru to fly to Christchurch when the fire alert warning light came on. The plane landed without incident and the passengers were bused to Christchurch.

The Jetstream 32 aircraft is owned by private charter company Air National and leased to Eagle Air, which operates the flights out of Oamaru for Air New Zealand.

An inspection is underway to establish what triggered the fire alert warning in the small commuter plane.

Civil Aviation Authority director Steve Douglas says the incident will be refered to the Transport Accident Investigation Commission, and the CAA will later decide whether to complete its own inquiry.

He says emergency landings are not common in this country, but they do occur as a precaution and the public should not be concerned about aircraft safety.

www.radionz.co.nz/news/latest/200710031806/emergency_landing_disrupts_timaru_flight


Ok, a FIRE WARNING light is important...

[skyhawkdon]

From my experience a fire warning light only comes on when there IS a problem. If there isn't actually a fire, there could be a bleed air or engine hot/high pressure section leak, which if ignored could quickly turn into a fire. The prudent response is to never ignore a fire warning light, even if there is no visible fire. Best to shut the engine down (if you are multi-engine) and land immediately. Well done to the crew in this case who appear to have done just that.

[flyjoe180]

Agree, there is usually a temperature at which the fire warning comes on, in the Metro (which also uses Garretts) a flashing warning means either hydraulic or bleed problem causing heat as you indicated, a steady light is for a higher temperature and means either there is actually a fire caused by either the bleeds, the hydraulics, or the landing gear brakes which retract into the nacelle under hydraulic and fuel lines.