Summary
- China Eastern flight MU721 experienced an uncontained engine failure, leading to violent vibrations and a diversion to Xiamen.
- The incident occurred over an hour into the flight at an altitude of 34,100 feet, with loud bangs and extreme vibration reported by passengers.
- The aircraft was capable of land safely in Xiamen, and one other plane was later deployed to finish the scheduled service to Hong Kong, leading to a major delay.
A China Eastern Airbus A330 landed safely at Xiamen Gaoqi International Airport (XMN) Sunday morning after an uncontained engine failure left the cabin violently vibrating, as reported by The Aviation Herald. Upon discovering the incident, the captain diverted the aircraft, and all passengers and crew safely disembarked the aircraft. The plane was promptly met by emergency personnel. No injuries have been reported in association with this incident.
Incident details
The flight in quotation was China Eastern flight MU721. The flight, operated on a six-and-a-half-year-old Airbus A330-300 registered B-8970, departed Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport (SHA) at 08:10 (local time). It was intended to reach at Hong Kong International Airport (HKG) at 10:50 (local time).
The incident occurred a bit of over an hour into the flight after departure from SHA’s runway 36L when the aircraft was at an altitude of 34,100 feet. The A330 was on target around 30 nautical miles north of Xiamen, China, within the southeastern Fujian province, when the crew reported a malfunction on the aircraft and would divert to Xiamen. The aircraft then proceeded to descend and landed on runway 05 at XMN just 19 minutes after starting its descent from 34,100 feet.
Photo: Markus Mainka | Shutterstock
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