Yesterday the Civil Aeronautics Administration confirmed that China Airlines flight AE845 had experienced a "flameout" in the aircraft's engines as it was preparing to land in Hong Kong last month.
A "flameout" occurs when the flame in an aircraft's engine combustion chamber is extinguished. Factors leading to this include a low fuel level, the intrusion of a foreign substance, inclement weather and mechanical failures.
The aircraft landed safely at Hong Kong International Airport.
The situation, however, was unknown to the flight crew as well as passengers for the entire duration of the flight. While the flight captain was aware of an abnormality, he was oblivious to the fact that the flame in the two engines had died out.
The aircraft was an Airbus A330-300. Owned by China Airlines, the plane was used by Mandarin Airlines on May 19 on a flight from Kaohsiung to Hong Kong.
The incident was exposed after it was described as a frightening air episode in the latest issue of the Chinese-language Next Magazine.
Chang Ling-ti (
He said that the "flameout" occurred as the aircraft had descended to an altitude of 6,700m while approaching Hong Kong.
The automatic flight system reactivated the engines in less than one minute.
Chang said China Airlines reported the incident to CAA within 72 hours after the landing. The company has also informed General Electric (GE), the manufacturer of the engines, as well as Airbus, of the incident.
Chang and the CAA said that this model of engine had experienced nine flameouts world-wide, the China Airlines incident being the most recent one.
Chang said that GE has offered to upgrade the Electric Control Units installed on the aircraft.
He said that both China Airlines and EVA Air had completed the upgrades.
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