A Delta Air Lines jet from Los Angeles to Atlanta was forced to make an emergency landing on Saturday afternoon after the left side engine of the Boeing 767 started to spew out flames just after takeoff.
The entire incident was caught on camera by the LA-based plane spotting YouTube channel LA Flights.
The pilots were immediately alerted via a fire indication light in the cockpit and declared an emergency, which resulted in all departures from Los Angeles International Airport being temporarily halted.
The aircraft climbed to a maximum altitude of just 3,000 feet according to publicly available data supplied by Flight Radar 24, as the pilots made an immediate return to the airport.
In the short amount of time it took to get the plane safely back on the ground, the engine fire had already been extinguished, but the airport fire service was standing by, and a fire truck shadowed the plane as it taxiied back to the gate.
Unlike other similar incidents, passengers onboard the aircraft say they were clueless to the fact that there had been an engine fire and were only told that the plane was returning to LAX due to a mechanical issue.
Shortly after landing, Delta was already proactively sending emails to the passengers, apologizing for the incident, saying:
“Please accept our apologies regarding flight 446 from Los Angeles to Atlanta. Shortly after takeoff, our pilots were alerted to a mechanical issue in one of the engines.”
“They made the decision to return to Los Angeles in an abundance of caution. While we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this caused, we want you to know that nothing is more important than the safety and security of our customers and crew.”
Delta also proactively offered passengers compensation in the form of future travel vouchers.
Back in 2016, the same Boeing 767 was intercepted by two Greek fighter jets during a charter flight on behalf of the US Transportation Command from Frankfurt to Kuwait.
The aircraft had just crossed over from Albanian airspace into Greek airspace, but the pilots failed to establish contact with air traffic control.
The pilots eventually established contact with air traffic control after the fighter jets started flying alongside the plane.
Matt’s Take
Given that US airlines are under no obligation to offer compensation for incidents of this nature, it seems like a pretty generous move from Delta to proactively offer passengers future travel vouchers without them even needing to get in contact with the airline.
While Delta moved to quickly rebook passengers onto alternative flights, the airline has also invited affected customers to file claims for hotel, meals, and alternative transportation costs they may have incurred.
There are those who will now “poo poo” Delta with a “See…they’re not as good as they think…yada, yada.” The company did the right thing by being proactive. This was not a force majeure event so, technically, they didn’t have to do anything. By immediately jumping with apologies, automatic rebooking, vouchers for expenses or full compensation goes a long way to put the customer right behind safety. Maybe other airlines should consider the same!
Interestingly, I thought maintenance issues were considered under the airlines’ control and therefore pax would be eligible for some form of compensation…. Unlike WX, ATC , etc. delays.
And being a busy summer travel season, I wonder how much space there was to ‘conviently’ reaccommodate all those pax …