Thai Airways Boeing 777 Suffers “Uncontained Engine Failure” In Bangkok

Several flight monitoring blogs, including Air Live, FlyerTalk, and Simply Flying, have reported that a Thai Air Boeing 777-300ER suffered an “uncontained failure” of its left engine while taking off at Suvarnabhumi Airport, also known as Bangkok Airport (BKK). 

The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon on runway 01L at BKK. 

เมื่อวาน(20 ตุลาคม) เที่ยวบิน TG970 กรุงเทพ – ซูริค ของการบินไทย ให้บริการโดยเครื่อง 777-300ER เกิดเครื่องยนต์ขัดข้องขณะกำลังเตรียมตัวเทคออฟ

ทางสายการบินได้จัดหาที่พักให้กับผู้โดยสารและลูกเรือไว้แล้ว และบ่ายวันเดียวกันนั้นได้นำผู้โดยสารตกค้างเดินทางใหม่ในเวลาบ่ายโมง pic.twitter.com/hPI6SBVizB

— บ้านนอกหัดนั่งเรือบิน (@BannorkAviation) October 21, 2019

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Air Live said the left engine, a General Electric GE90 turbofan engine, suffered catastrophic damage upon takeoff.

Flight data via Flight Trader 24, showed the aircraft hit speeds above 50 mph at the time the engine failed. 

The takeoff was quickly aborted at the halfway point of the runway. 

Takeoff speeds for a 777-300ER are between 165 to 215 mph, which means if the left engine failed at higher speeds, or at the point of lift, this could have been another massive disaster for Boeing. 

About one minute after the engine failed, the plane made a complete stop on the shoulder of the runway, where passengers and crew exited the plane.

FlyerTalk user SPK posted an image of the engine. The user said:

“B777-300ER HS-TKL “Sunanda” (“สุนันทา”) returned to Suvarnabhumi shortly after taking off due to engine failure.

TG arranged a replacement flight TG970D, using HS-TKK, leaving BKK at 1PM, a 12-hour delay, and arrived ZRH at 7:08PM. This will cause TG971 to be delayed by around 9-10 hours.

The damage on HS-TKL’s engine seems to require lots of repair (photo from my friend who was on the flight).”

Judging by the photo, it appears the engine exploded outward and to the side. This means the malfunction was likely due to a rear turbine section.

Another user of FlyerTalk “cleaned the picture up a little,” which shows the extent of the damage.  

Airfleets.net said the airplane is 7.1 years old and was delivered to Thai Air in late October 2012. 

Thai Airways Intl Boeing 777-300 (HS-TKL, built 2012) suffered an uncontained failure of ist left Engine (GE90) whilst taking off runway 01L at Bangkok on flight #TG970 to Zürich. None of the 359 people in board was Hurt. Damage is being assessed. https://t.co/PSCm0vPBlB pic.twitter.com/0DSwKpNmbl

— JACDEC (@JacdecNew) October 21, 2019

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Passengers on board were headed to Zurich, and as a result of the engine blowing up on takeoff, a 12-hour delay was seen.