Two aircraft experience engine surge situations during takeoff in two days

Two aircraft had their engines malfunctioned in Russia over the course of two days. Both incidents were similar — the aircraft performed emergency landing immediately after takeoff due to fire in the engines.

The first incident occurred on Thursday, December 7, in Ulan-Ude. A Tupolev Tu-204 cargo plane took off from Baikal airport, but had to return to the ground a few minutes later, the head of the Buryatia Republic, Alexei Tsydenov said.

On December 8, a passenger aircraft of S7 Airlines urgently landed in Novosibirsk. Both engines of the aircraft surged almost immediately after takeoff. There were 176 passengers on board, no one was hurt.

Tupolev Tu-204 catches fire when airborne

The Tupolev Tu-204 had an engine surge in its left engine during takeoff. 'Surge' is compressor blade stall which happens because of abrupt decrease of airflow through the engine. Pilots requested an emergency landing and dumped fuel to minimise the risk of a crash during landing and landed safely. No one was hurt during the landing.

The Boeing 737-800 bound for Moscow departed from Novosibirsk at 06:21. The plane landed safely at 07:04 as it returned to the airport of Novosibirsk. The Boeing 737-800 also had an engine surge situation, most likely due to pressure problems.

One of the passengers of the aircraft said that the turbines of the airliner started popping as the plane was accelerating on the runway. Passengers could clearly see that the engines were in flames as the plane was taking off. There was no panic on board, the eyewitness said. People on board started clapping their hands only five minutes after the airplane landed. Passengers were mostly shocked by what happened, the man said.