A Qatar Airways A330 suffered an incident on final approach in Islamabad. On July 22nd, 2019, QR614, an Airbus A330-200 flight from Doha to Islamabad, landed safely after the crew performed a go-around. Just before the go-around, flames were spotted coming from the right-hand side engine.
The incident
An Airbus A330-200, registered A7-ACG, took off from Qatar Airways’ hub in Doha en route to Islamabad, Pakistan. The flight was normal until final approach at Islamabad. According to the Aviation Herald, a loud sound was followed by flames coming from the right-hand engine.
At this time, the aircraft was 1200 feet above ground level. The crew decided it was best to initiate a go-around. Then, the crew took the aircraft to 5,000 feet. Once at that altitude, the crew went about completing the required checklist. After this, the crew safely landed on runway 10R. From go-around to landing, the total time was around 30 minutes. Here is the resulting flightpath as seen on FlightAware:
Thankfully, there were no reported injuries or fatalities due to this incident. Unfortunately, QR615, the return flight, did not operate. Qatar Airways canceled the flight.
Where is the aircraft?
A7-ACG is still in Islamabad. Flight tracking website, FlightRadar24, notes that the aircraft landed but has not taken off again from Islamabad. According to Airfleets, this aircraft was delivered to Qatar Airways on April 28th, 2006. Thus, the aircraft is only 13.3 years old. The aircraft is equipped with General Electric CF6-80E1 engines.
Qatar Airways’ Airbus A330
Qatar Airways operates seven Airbus A330-200s configured with 260 seats. There are 24 angle-flat seats with 165 degrees of recline in business class in a 2-2-2 configuration. Meanwhile, economy class is configured with 236 seats in a standard 2-4-2 configuration.
Qatar Airways is phasing out its Airbus A330 aircraft in favor of modern Boeing 787s and Airbus A350s. These aircraft will be retired over the next few years. Ultimately, as the Airbus A330s age, they require more maintenance. Onboard, the aircraft does not have the competitive products that Qatar Airways can install on newer aircraft.
Overall
Thankfully, there were no injuries or fatalities as a result of this incident. Although, the aircraft appears to still be on the ground in Islamabad. As of now, the reason for flames coming from the engine is unclear.
Simple Flying reached out to Qatar Airways. However, Qatar Airways did not respond prior to publication.
Were you a passenger on this flight? Let us know in the comments!
