Lufthansa pilots declare an emergency
Serious problems on board the Lufthansa plane from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt: an engine broke down over Zagreb on Monday and oil was leaking.
The pilots of flight LH-691 had to send the emergency code “7700”. They declared a so-called air emergency on Monday.
As the specialist portals “Aviation Herald” and “aero.de” reported, one of two engines failed on the Lufthansa flight from Tel Aviv to Frankfurt. The machine had to descend immediately, the Airbus left the planned route and headed for Zagreb.
Flight to Frankfurt: Suddenly oil pressure warning
At the beginning of the flight, everything went smoothly on Monday morning: The Airbus A321 Neo took off from Tel Aviv at 4:39 a.m., as recorded by the flight data. At an altitude of 11,000 meters, the jet flew above the clouds at a speed of around 800 km/h.
Two and a half hours later, the emergency: According to “aero.de”, the pilots received an oil pressure warning for the right Pratt and Whitney engine. The Aviation Herald reports that the engine had failed. An oil leak in the engine was then discovered and reported.
Engines: Lufthansa announced unscheduled inspections
In this situation, the pilots decided to make an immediate safety landing. They first descended to an altitude of 6,100 meters, turned around and finally touched down safely in the Croatian capital at 7.43 a.m. The passengers were picked up by Lufthansa with a replacement aircraft from Zagreb and brought to Frankfurt am Main with a delay of almost six hours.
The incident highlights problems with Pratt and Whitney engines that airlines have been complaining about for some time. According to reports, numerous airlines had to ground machines this year because some of the necessary spare parts were not available. Other A320 Neo Family engine problems were also reported, necessitating unscheduled inspections.
Lufthansa is also affected by this: According to “Aerotelegraph”, the German airline has announced that twelve engines will be examined this September. “We will not be able to avoid having to temporarily park a single-digit number of these aircraft,” quoted Lufthansa boss Carsten Spohr in early August.
