Romanian airline specialists are voicing contradictory opinions regarding the causes that may have led to the dislocation of one of the engines of American Airlines flight 587, an Airbus 300, followed by the aircraft’s crash into the Queens section of New York.
Some specialists rule out the possibility that this type of incident should occur with this kind of plane, while others say that the engine can fall off following a big fire.
“As far as I know, this type of incident has never occurred with Airbus aircraft. Several years ago, a similar incident led to the crash of a Boeing 707 in Great Britain, but this has never happened with Airbus planes. This type of plane is a state-of-the-art machine,” said one of the Romanian civil aviation specialists.
In his opinion, the engine cannot explode, but it is possible for something to break inside. “I believe that, for reasons that are still a mystery, the engine could no longer be controlled, sending the plane on an asymmetric trajectory, completely off-balance. Only investigations can exactly say what happened,” he added.
According to another opinion, there is a special case when the engine can “slip” from under the wing.
“The engine is fastened to the wing in two points and, if there was a major break (because the kerosene tanks are placed in the wing), the plane burst in flames and exploded,” says a specialist with 17,000 hours of flight experience.
However, he says that the plane could have continued its flight, had the engine fallen without affecting the wing.
American investigators are talking about an accident for the time being, especially since the Federal Bureau of Investigations, which has been on a high level of alert since September 11, said there was no information confirming that the crash had been caused by a terrorist attack.
According to an FAA official, no emergency calls or conversations between the pilots and the tower had been registered before the crash. Flight 587 was due to take off at 08:00 a.m., EST and land in Santo Domingo at 12:48.
The plane’s engine fell five blocks away from the rest of the plane, in a home’s yard. According to an eyewitness, pieces of the plane were falling down, while flames could be seen on the right side of the aircraft.
Stocks of three of the largest online travel agencies (Travelocity.com, Expedia.com and ebookers.com) posted sharp decreases on Nasdaq, after the New York incident.
Although travel agencies worldwide had posted a slight recovery in the number of reservations, the accident may have a major impact on consumer trust in airlines.