Airplane’s turbine catches fire after takeoff with journalist from Manaus on board

Victória Sales – Cenarium Magazine

MANAUS – After taking off from the capital of Amazonas, a flight of the Azul Linhas Aéreas company headed to Recife had to return back to Manaus due to mechanical failure, in the early hours of Monday, 10, around 2h. One of the turbines of the aircraft caught fire minutes after takeoff from the International Airport Eduardo Gomes. In images published on social networks, you can see the desperation of passengers and tension when they realize the accident.

The journalist Cleo Pinheiro, who was inside the aircraft, reported on social networks that minutes after takeoff, the turbine began to catch fire. “I saw it, I was at the window. I saw it”, she says. “A woman screamed in the back and we understood that something was happening, I looked out the window and saw the fire, then we started to get desperate and the fire increased”, he adds.

According to passenger Sávio Silva, the pilot informed about the problem and that the plane had returned to Manaus again. “I was on my first airplane trip and, for a first trip, it was not easy at all. I was scared, nervous, but, thank God, the pilot managed to land it. We survived”.

After the accident, nobody was injured. One of the passengers, Colombian anthropologist Andrés Bernal highlighted the passengers’ concern after the pilot’s warning. “Only a few people saw the fire, but everyone started to get nervous. There were people crying. Nobody knew if the stewardesses and the pilots knew and people wanted to warn. Minutes later, the pilot said that there was a technical problem and we went back to Manaus”, she said.

Passengers also reported that, after the accident, were accommodated on other flights of the company itself and that should still board to their destinations on Monday, 10.

Company takes a stand

Through a note to CENARIUM, Azul Linhas Aéreas apologized for what it called an “annoyance”. “Azul clarifies that, for technical reasons, flight AD2649 (Manaus-Recife) needed to return to the airport of origin early this morning, 10. The company emphasizes that it provided all necessary assistance to its customers, as provided in resolution 400 of Anac, and reaccommodated them on the next flights of the company departing from Manaus. Azul regrets any annoyance caused and reinforces that measures such as these are necessary to ensure the safety of its operations”.