Excitement in Rome

Engine fire: Chinese Boeing forced to turn back

(Bild: kameraOne (Screenshot))

The right engine of a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner of the Chinese airline Hainan Airlines caught fire on Sunday morning shortly after take-off at Fiumicino Airport in Rome. The plane, which was en route to the Chinese city of Shenzhen, turned back and landed safely after dumping fuel over the sea.

The cause of the fire was unclear, an Italian airport official said, adding that there had been no delays to air traffic at Fiumicino.

Flames leaked from the engine
A video shows flames emerging from the engine of the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner under the right wing.

(Bild: kameraOne (Screenshot))

The engine failure and fire were apparently caused by a collision with some birds in flight, Italian media reported.

249 passengers on board
The aircraft affected was a plane bound for Shenzhen in China, which had taken off from Rome Fiumicino at around 10.30 a.m. on Sunday with 249 passengers and 16 crew members.

As radar images show, the aircraft turned several times at altitude to dump fuel before it had to make an emergency landing. The landing went off without a hitch and no one was injured. The Boeing is now undergoing technical checks.

Repeated problems
In 2022, the US Federal Aviation Safety Administration denied Boeing the opportunity to self-certify the Dreamliner's compliance because an Italian supplier, two companies from Brindisi in southern Italy, had used grade 2 titanium with "largely inferior mechanical properties and structural strength" instead of a titanium alloy. Recently, there have been repeated problems with Boeing 787-9 Dreamliners.