Investigators in Las Vegas seek cause of plane’s engine fire

Early findings show the failure occurred where the engine was under the highest pressure, though there was no immediate indication of what caused it or the fire that forced 170 people to evacuate Tuesday at McCarran international Airport as smoke poured from the aircraft.

An examination of the engine discovered one of the turbine blades had failed leading the NTSB to issue a warning. It added: “Initial examination of the left engine revealed multiple breaches of the engine case in the area around the high pressure compressor”.

British Airways spokeswoman Caroline Titmuss would not answer questions about Tuesday’s fire in an email exchange, but said: “Safety is always our priority”.

The plane had two GE90 engines made by GE Aviation, and the company said heat distress was evident on the left side’s engine and fuselage.

But a spokesman added the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States would determine whether or not the instruction had been given, and whether passengers taking hand luggage had any impact on the evacuation. He said: ” We shouldn’t treat this as a unique incident and say General Electric is to blame. The engine core, however, is designed never to fail as the external shielding isn’t required to contain tremendous energy of the debris.

In its 21-year history, the 777-200 has been involved in two fatal crashes, one in July 2013 that killed three passengers when an Asiana Airlines flight landed short of San Francisco worldwide Airport’s runway, and the Malaysia Airlines flight that disappeared a year ago and was only recently recovered. CCFD said the aircraft was traveling at 100 miles per hour before brakes were applied just as flames were spotted.

A major loss of life was averted when captain Chris Henkey managed to abort the take off the Gatwick-bound flight as it hurtled towards a take off speed of 175mph.

The emergency slides were quickly deployed and some passengers were injured in their rapid exit to deplane and escape the flames.

A Heathrow spokesman confirmed that the south runway was closed while the plane was towed away after landing safely at 10.38am, but all operations have now resumed.

“It’s safe to say I’m finished flying”, Henkey, 63, told in a phone interview from a Las Vegas hotel room, where he was waiting to speak to investigators.

The pilot is understood to have told passengers that the aircraft suffered “catastrophic engine failure”.