RAWALPINDI: A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Boeing 777 plane, which made an emergency landing at Muscat International Airport due to engine failure 13 days ago, returned home on Monday after its engine was replaced with another one.
The engine was replaced with one removed from another Boeing 777 plane grounded at Jinnah International Airport.
The engine was airlifted to Muscat on March 10 on a C-130 cargo plane.
Flight PK-714 from Madina to Islamabad carrying 392 passengers had to make an emergency landing at Muscat airport after one of its engines suddenly stalled and failed at 35,000 feet.
The aircraft, with 357 passengers and 35 crew members, had taken off from Madina one hour and 50 minutes late. After attaining an altitude of 35,000 feet, the pilot noticed some problem in the engine.
The plane was flying over Muscat when its left engine (engine number 1) suddenly stopped working. The cockpit crew decided to land at Muscat as it was the nearest airport.
After getting permission for landing, the aircraft safely landed with one operational engine in Muscat at 10.21pm.
The passengers were offloaded and were sent to the airport lounge.
Shortly after the plane landed at the airport, a group of engineers were sent to Muscat from Pakistan to get the engine repaired, but after examining it the engineers decided to ground the plane as the engine was damaged, probably after having been hit by an external object.
Later a relief flight was sent to bring back the passengers stranded at Muscat airport. After replacement of the engine, the PIA aircraft took off for Karachi.
Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2024
