Aircraft Engine Catches Fire - Narrow Escape for Sunday morning passengers

Jan 16, 2011
It was the usual early morning flight for a close friend (who prefers to remain unnamed) from Bangalore to Hyderabad. The 7:25 Kingfisher ATR was delayed due to a technical snag. The passengers who had already boarded the flight were asked to disembark. But 15 minutes later they were told that the problem was solved and the plane was ready to take off.
About 5 - 7 minutes after take-off my friend who was reading the paper happened to glance out of the window, he saw a bright orange glow from the engine and realised that it was misfiring. It took him a moment to register what was happening and he looked at his colleague, whom he was travelling with, to check if he had seen it too. 'I thought I was imagining things. And for a few seconds didnt realize the seriousness of the situation'. he told me. But they gathered their senses and immediatey tried to get the attention of the airhostess. But when she just smiled back pleasantly at them from the front of the aircraft - they shouted out that the engine was on fire! She rushed over and by then a few of the passengers began to realise that something was wrong. There were about 35 passengers on board the flight. The airhostess immediately went to inform the pilot. The pilot switched off the engine that had caught fire and had to take the plane back to Bangalore airport on a single engine.
'For a few minutes the plane was still rising and then slowly started turning back towards Bangalore airport.' said my friend. The aircraft made its way back to the airport listing precariously as it ran into strong headwinds. 'When the plane was turning back I could feel the pressure hugely', he said. It landed with all emergency procedures and an ambulance, fire engines were already in place and the passengers breathed a sigh of relief as they realisedthat they had had a narrow escape. Many of the passengers went up to my friend and thanked him for what he'd done.