Kenya Airways calls out Nation Media over malicious reporting on flight KQ 762 engine incident

Our attention has been drawn to an article published in the Daily Nation On Tuesday April 9, 2019 titled ‘KQ fire exposes operations fiasco’ and we would like to clarify on this malicious misrepresentation Of facts.

The writer of the article seems to have taken an uninformed and misguided position that Kenya Airways staff on duty on the flight, on the ground and control center were oblivious of their roles during the incident due to laxity. We take note of his sentiments which should never have been published in a national newspaper in the absence of facts.

KQ would like to clarify that this incident was not caused or exacerbated by any operational laxity as the Daily Nation article implies.

The communication between the pilots, Operations Control ( Duty Manager) and Air Traffic Control during the flight was normal and the emergency call made was responded to with priority landing given.

The Daily Nation allegation that the pilots could not contact the control center is untrue and uninformed. The crew talked to Operations Control through ACARS (Aircraft Communication And Reporting System) one of the three standard modes of communications used during flights.

The writer also alleges that the location of the aircraft was unknown which is false. Operations Control had the position of the aircraft at all time on Our system and a copy Of the flight plan was left on ground in Nairobi as required by law.

The Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting Facility were on standby at the airport and runway and remained until the aircraft safely landed. The passengers and crew disembarked using the normal exits with no reported injuries. There was no post-flight incident fire.

A review of the maintenance action on the engine was carried out after the event to eliminate any action that may have induced errors or fault leading to the incident. The affected engine has been shipped off to the manufacturer (GE) and awaits findings to shed light onto the exact cause of the engine fire.

Our records indicate that the aircraft Was certified, equipped and maintained in accordance with existing regulations and approved procedures, and that there were no recorded deficiencies affecting the performance of the flight prior to dispatch. The aircraft was returned to       on 26th Feb after engine replacement.

Kenya Airways

The inspection and repair of the engine in question has started with KQ engineering representation and the investigation report is expected by end of April.

Kenya Airways flight KQ 762 which departed from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport at 1005 GMT on 12th February, 2019 headed to OR-Tambo International Airport, South Africa experienced an engine overheating alert shortly after take-off. The crew immediately embarked on all necessary measures to ensure the safety of all the 142 passengers and 10 crew on board. All the safety processes were conducted as per the plane manufacturers recommended procedures and KQ 3787 Standard Operating Procedures. The flight was diverted to Dar-es-salaam, which was the nearest suitable airport.

KQ management in the effort to promote safety and as required by law shared the preliminary report of the incident with the 787 pilots community so that they can learn from the outcome of the incident Words from this preliminary report were selected in a malicious manner to put together an article that would paint the airline and its staff negatively. We call On the reporter to produce the said report from which attributes his story.

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