MANILA, Philippines — A Brunei-bound aircraft was forced on Wednesday to turn back to the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) after its left engine conked out mid-flight.
The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) said the pilot of the Royal Brunei Airline plane, which had nearly 150 passengers and crew, safely maneuvered the aircraft back to the NAIA terminal 1.
MIAA said that the Bandar Seri Begawan-bound flight BI 684 left the NAIA at 4:13 pm and was able to land safely back at 5:01 pm.
A report from the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines said that the pilot radioed Manila tower that its left engine had died some 18 minutes after it took off from the NAIA runway.
It was 105 miles southwest of Manila when it declared an emergency.
Epi Pineda, 41, an overseas worker who was on the flight, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that they never realized how bad the situation was until they landed.
“All the pilot said was we had to turn back to Manila because of a technical problem on the plane,” he said.
He added that the passengers’ only clues that something was wrong were the plane’s slight dip and a sharp jolt before the pilot’s announcement.
Pineda said that he also noticed that the mechanism on the wings were already poised for landing even before the announcement.
Royal Brunei ground service crew immediately started to check the engine as soon as the aircraft landed.
It was still unclear if the passengers would use the same plane to fly to Brunei or be put in different aircraft. SFM