Britain's air accident investigators have concluded that a serious error was made during maintenance before a British Airways (BA) plane was forced to make an emergency landing at Heathrow airport last week.
Doors on both engines of Flight BA762 flying to Oslo from London had been left unlatched during maintenance, the UK's official Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report said here today.
The unlatching had not been noticed before the Airbus A319 took off and the fan cowl doors from both engines detached as the aircraft left the runway at Heathrow, puncturing a fuel pipe on the right engine, the interim report said.
"Subsequent investigation revealed that the fan cowl doors on both engines were left unlatched during maintenance and this was not identified prior to aircraft departure," it concluded.
The detaching also punctured the airframe and some aircraft systems and the flight crew, led by the captain, decided to return to Heathrow.
As the plane was landing, an external fire started on the right engine, with the left engine continuing to perform normally throughout the flight.
"The source of ignition that led to the in-flight fire is still under investigation," the AAIB added.
British Airways chief executive Keith Williams welcomed the findings.
"We continue to cooperate fully with the investigation team and can confirm that appropriate initial action has already been taken in accordance with the AAIB's safety recommendation to Airbus," he said.
