An Etihad Airways Boeing 777-300, registration A6-ETL performing flight EY-450 from Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) to Sydney,NS (Australia) with 329 passengers, was in the initial climb out of Abu Dhabi’s runway 13R when the crew stopped the climb at 4000 feet due to problems with the left hand engine (GE90) and returned to Abu Dhabi. Cabin crew instructed the passengers to brace for landing. The aircraft landed safely on runway 13L (at about 209 knots over ground) about 30 minutes after departure. The aircraft stopped at the end of the runway and was inspected by emergency services. The captain called the crew on station immediately after roll out.
A passenger reported that about 5 minutes after landing the captain announced there had been a problem with the left hand engine, that’s why emergency services were surrounding the aircraft. The captain apologized for “being busy” earlier.
Another passenger reported when they disembarked they could see the tyres were deflated.
As result of the occurrence the airport was closed for about 30 minutes causing a number of arriving flights to enter holding patterns and even divert, then the second runway entered service again. Runway 13L remained closed for 13.5 hours due to the disabled aircraft.
On Sep 28th 2016 the airline reported the aircraft returned to Abu Dhabi following the failure of one of the aircraft engines.
A replacement Boeing 777-300 registration A6-ETO reached Sydney with a delay of 10:45 hours.
On Sep 28th 2016 The Aviation Herald received information that the tread of left nose wheel tyre separated from the tyre and impacted the Avionics Door so hard, that the door buckled open. The rubber bounced off the door and went through the left hand engine causing an engine surge and bang during rotation. With a gross weight of 346.5 tons the crew determined Vref at 196 KIAS and Vapp at 201 KIAS. Following landing 11 of 12 main tyres deflated after their fuse plugs melted.
The Aviation Herald
Boeing 777-3FX(ER) of Etihad has engine failure
