The Ministry of Civil Aviation has ordered concerned officials at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), India’s civil aviation regulator, to look into the engine incident that took place on an IndiGo A320ceo jetliner on 28 October. The DGCA has been asked to submit its report at the earliest.
IndiGo flight 6E2131, an A320ceo aircraft operating from Delhi to Bengaluru experienced an engine fire, while on its take-off roll, following which the pilot immediately aborted the take-off and returned to the parking bay.
“All passengers and crew are safe and an alternate aircraft was arranged to operate the flight, which took off at 0016 hrs on October 29, 2022,” IndiGo said in a statement.
The aircraft was identified on social media as having the registration tail number VT-IFM, which corresponds to an A320ceo jetliner, according to information posted on planespotters.net.
The take-off phase is a critical aspect in aircraft flight as due to the aircraft’s proximity to the ground, the crew has little time to bring the aircraft to safety. Luckily in this instance, the aircraft was still on its take-off run and had not yet taken to the air.
Fortunately, actual engine fires are a rare occurrence and the cause is usually the result of a flammable fluid coming in contact with very hot engine case surfaces. Material failures in modern aero engines related to the fast spinning turbine blades are extremely rare.
IndiGo’s A320ceo jetliners are powered by the V2500 engine, which was designed and manufactured by International Aero Engines (IAE), a global partnership of aerospace leaders including Pratt & Whitney, Japanese Aero Engine Corporation and Germany’s MTU Aero Engines.
According to Airbus delivery data as of September 30, 2022, IndiGo had 35 A320ceo jetliners operational. IndiGo also has 344 A320neo and 386 A321neo aircraft on order, of which it has taken delivery of 151 and 68 respectively. IndiGo’s A320neo family jetliners are powered either by Pratt & Whitney GTF engines or CFM LEAP engines.
IAE V2500 engines were installed on three aircraft types – the Airbus A320 family, Boeing’s MD-90, and Embraer’s KC390 military transport.
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