Delta A330 engine explodes on take off Pilot "Affirmative we need a comeback"

6,184 Views | 48 Replies | Last: 8 days ago by Rossticus
Ag with kids
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In reply to Decay • 10:44p, 3/31/26
AG
Decay said:
I was a passenger in a plane that had a bird strike. Plenty of altitude so I wasn't that worried but several people screamed like we were going to explode in midair. They shut down #2 and were back down in a few minutes.

When we landed there was a reporter asking people in the rebooking line if we were on the plane. I didn't want to talk to them but the guy in front of me showed them the note we wrote on his hand to his family in case we went down.

Really I think most people are just dramatic babies.

Back when I was still going to A&M but was a co-op working in DFW (late 80s), I was flying on SWA into from St. Louis.

There was a rainstorm that was dropping a **** ton of rain on the terminal, but not the runway...we had been circling for about an hour before we came in for a landing.

We actually crossed the runway threshold, not sure the altitude but it was less than 100 ft...then all of a sudden, the plane went full engines on.

I was looking out the left window and the next thing I know we're climbing out and we yawed about 30 deg twice on the ascent.

The pilot came on the intercom to tell us that we were going to Oklahoma City to refuel.

I heard a lot of people screaming and crying during that time.

HowEVER...I was 19 years old...and I asked for a beer...and they had no problems giving it to me.

I think I got 2 more free ones on the way to OKC...

Gotta solve the problems...
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itsyourboypookie
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6:03a, 4/1/26
Thank god there were women there to uselessly yell.

NSFW skit on the proper thing to do if your plane is crashing.

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ts5641
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In reply to JFABNRGR • 6:07a, 4/1/26
Lord, that video is terrifying! My ****ing nightmare!
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Kenneth_2003
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In reply to TX_COWDOC • 6:29a, 4/1/26
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TX_COWDOC said:
My instructor would call that good ADM…. Aeronautical Decision Making!

My question is would the pilots even consider dumping fuel with an active fire? I didn't get that far with my ASEL certification.

They were back on the ground in right at 10 minutes.

That says that as part of their pre-planning they most likely already had a single engine return landing performance calculation done and did not need to dump fuel. It would be an overweight landing, but it's allowed in an instance such as this so there would be no need to dump fuel if they had sufficient runway length.

IF they had to dump the dumping is done out at the wingtips so the fuel is dispersed into the wingtip vortices to speed evaporation and dispersion. There is no flow convergence between air at the wingtip and the near engine area.

Blancolirio made a really good point. This exact scenario is on EVERY annual check-sim that professional pilots do. It's quite literally the most (or certainly one of the most) extensively drilled emergency scenarios. It's absolutely a very dangerous situation, but it's made manageable by being extensively drilled. It may never happen in a pilots career. It could happen on their retirement flight. It could happen to them on day one.
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TKEAg04
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In reply to Ag with kids • 7:16a, 4/1/26
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Ag with kids said:
Decay said:
I was a passenger in a plane that had a bird strike. Plenty of altitude so I wasn't that worried but several people screamed like we were going to explode in midair. They shut down #2 and were back down in a few minutes.

When we landed there was a reporter asking people in the rebooking line if we were on the plane. I didn't want to talk to them but the guy in front of me showed them the note we wrote on his hand to his family in case we went down.

Really I think most people are just dramatic babies.

Back when I was still going to A&M but was a co-op working in DFW (late 80s), I was flying on SWA into from St. Louis.

There was a rainstorm that was dropping a **** ton of rain on the terminal, but not the runway...we had been circling for about an hour before we came in for a landing.

We actually crossed the runway threshold, not sure the altitude but it was less than 100 ft...then all of a sudden, the plane went full engines on.

I was looking out the left window and the next thing I know we're climbing out and we yawed about 30 deg twice on the ascent.

The pilot came on the intercom to tell us that we were going to Oklahoma City to refuel.

I heard a lot of people screaming and crying during that time.

HowEVER...I was 19 years old...and I asked for a beer...and they had no problems giving it to me.

I think I got 2 more free ones on the way to OKC...

Gotta solve the problems...

Approach wasn't stabilized or they hit a big gust and were forced to TOGA. Once ILS gets a glidepath slope, you set TOGA elevation and hit the button in case you can't get your landing stabilized. Good on the pilots!
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GAC06
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7:18a, 4/1/26
AG
Been mentioned but the aircraft was an A330-300. Fuel jettison was not installed on those except in rare cases (an airline purchased option) apparently
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aTm2004
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In reply to TRX • 8:38a, 4/1/26
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TRX said:
I was curious why they didn't turn around sooner. Some comments I saw said they were trying to gain more altitude before doing so, but it seems to me an engine fire would be a pretty big emergency they'd want to land as soon as possible for.

Maybe a pilot can chime in with a better explanation. I'd sure want one if I was a passenger!

Not a pilot but live in an area with a lot of United pilots and ATCs and know a few...

I'd venture to guess they were going through a checklist of what they needed to do to keep the plane in the air in that situation as well as letting the tower know of the emergency and getting instructions for landing. Tower probably had to reroute some inbound planes on approach as well as push back some takeoffs to make room for them to land.
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insulator_king
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In reply to TRX • 8:50a, 4/1/26
AG
TRX said:
I was curious why they didn't turn around sooner. Some comments I saw said they were trying to gain more altitude before doing so, but it seems to me an engine fire would be a pretty big emergency they'd want to land as soon as possible for.

Maybe a pilot can chime in with a better explanation. I'd sure want one if I was a passenger!

Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
The first thing they do is FLY the plane, perform the checklist, make ABSOLUTELY sure they are shutting down the correct engine. Etc.
Worst thing to do is try and land too fast before the plane is properly configured for landing single engine. A sudden turn with a high bank angle could very likely lead to a stall, not good.
Altitude is life!
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GAC06
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In reply to aTm2004 • 8:51a, 4/1/26
AG
In the event of an engine failure on takeoff there are often specific departure procedures to follow, especially in mountainous areas. Sometimes it's as simple as climb on a heading, other times there are several turns/steps. At a minimum they'll climb over 1000ft then work the problem.
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Kenneth_2003
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In reply to GAC06 • 6:39p, 4/1/26
AG
GAC06 said:
Been mentioned but the aircraft was an A330-300. Fuel jettison was not installed on those except in rare cases (an airline purchased option) apparently

Question...
Is it reasonable to presume that an operator would only want or need that installed if they planned to operate from an airfield where an overweight and reduced performance landing would not be possible, thus necessitating the fuel dump?

Obviously in this case the aircraft was more than capable of handling the situation: single engine, lower flap setting, higher approach speed, and far greater total energy.
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sts7049
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2:01a, 4/2/26
AG
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torrid
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In reply to BQ78 • 8:37a, 4/2/26
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BQ78 said:
The panic of the passengers would have been worse than the emergency to me. The pilots obviously had it under control.

That's about where I'm at. There were several men in the second video telling people to sit down and shut the eff up.
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JFABNRGR
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In reply to sts7049 • 9:06a, 4/2/26
AG
Is he going to do another longer version. It seemed like he just stopped at the engine while giving GE an indirect plug. Even the engine portion I though he could show a bit more, especially how the sections bolted together giving a picture of what its supposed to look like.

That said those pics look like that engine was close to coming completely apart.

I am still surprised at the appearance of continued climb rate after engine failure in those take off videos.

“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”
- Alexander Solzhenitsyn
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akaggie05
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In reply to JFABNRGR • 9:10a, 4/2/26
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JFABNRGR said:


I am still surprised at the appearance of continued climb rate after engine failure in those take off videos.



All twin engine jets have to be capable of positive climb under a worst case (engine out just after rotation) scenario. Take a look at the size of the engines used on the A330 and 777 vs. the A340 or 747. They are massive for a reason.
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Rossticus
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9:31a, 4/2/26
Turns out that the pilot is my neighbor's kid. Small world. Lol.
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