CHICAGO- Fort Worth-based American Airlines (AA) Boeing 787 has been severely damaged at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD) after its engine ingested the cargo container.
The airline was operating a transatlantic flight AA47 from London Heathrow (LHR) to Chicago and an incident occurred after landing at ORD.
American Airlines 787 Damaged
According to X (formerly Twitter) user, Windy City Wheelman was the first to share the images and report the incident.
American Airlines Flight 47 encountered a serious incident while taxiing on Bravo Taxiway towards Terminal 5, O’Hare at approximately 3:00 PM local time. A cargo container entered the aircraft’s right engine, causing severe damage to both the container and engine. No injuries occurred during the incident.
The incident location coincides with a service road connecting Terminal 5 to Terminal 3, intersecting Taxiways Bravo and Alpha. According to passenger reports, crew members indicated that a vehicle drove between two taxiing aircraft, and jet blast from the leading aircraft propelled containers toward Flight 47.
The damaged container appears to be an AKE Unit Load Device (ULD), a standardized cargo container commonly used throughout the aviation industry for transporting luggage and cargo.
Preliminary evidence suggests the container may have dislodged from a service vehicle traversing the intersecting road.
Official Remarks
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is aware of this incident and has begun its investigating to find the exact cause behind this incident.
FAA wrote, “The crew of American Airlines Flight 47 reported an engine issue while taxiing to the gate at Chicago O’Hare International Airport around 4 p.m. local time on Thursday, October 17. The passengers deplaned normally. The Boeing 787-9 was traveling from Heathrow Airport in London.”
While the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA) stated,
All 283 passengers and 12 crew members onboard safely deboarded at Terminal 5 following the incident and there were no significant impacts to airport operations.
CDB Official
Further, an American Airlines spokesperson responded to this incident and added,
After safely landing at Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), American Airlines flight 47, with service from London-Heathrow (LHR), reported damage to its engine while taxiing to the gate at ORD. The aircraft has been taken out of service to be inspected by our maintenance team. Safety is our top priority, and we thank our team members for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding.”
AA Spokeperson
Flight Details
According to the AA schedule, the airline operates multiple daily flights between Chicago and London using Boeing 777, 787-9, and 787-10.
The flight involved in the incident, AA47 took off from London at 1:13 PM local time, and after flying for seven hours and 30 minutes landed safely at Chicago at 2:50 PM local time. The incident occurred during the taxing phase.
The aircraft involved in the incident is a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, registered as N834AA. It is a 6.7-year-old aircraft and is powered by GEnX engines.
The aircraft is grounded in Chicago and it looks like it will take a while before it can return to service.
Luckily no one was injured. But in similar incidents of ingesting in engines, many people have lost their lives.
Earlier this year, a fatal incident occurred at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (AMS) when an individual fell into the active engine of a KLM Embraer aircraft scheduled for departure to Billund, Denmark.
Similarly, a tragic incident occurred at Chabahar Konarak airport in southern Iran when mechanic Abolfazl Amiri was fatally pulled into a Boeing 737-500’s running engine while attempting to retrieve a tool he had left nearby. The incident took place during routine maintenance work on a Varesh Airline aircraft, where Amiri was performing preventive services before the fatal accident.
Always stay aware while working near the aircraft, especially when the engine is running.
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