Engine debris of a Norwegian Boeing 787 damaged cars and roofs in the vicinity of Rome’s Fiumicino airport, when they fell off from the plane after its takeoff on Saturday, 10th August 2019.
A spokeswoman from Italy’s civil protection agency confirmed the incident to Euronews, adding that most of the pieces fell around the area of Isola Sacra in the city of Fiumicino not far from the airport.
“The fragments caused damages to cars, houses, roofs, and other objects in people’s gardens.”
But there were no injuries or casualties reported.
She added that civil protection officers went to the scene upon the request of local police, to assess the damage.
A spokeswoman for Norwegian airlines said that a flight from Rome to Los Angeles had to go back to Fiumicino airport “due to indications of a technical failure of one of the engines”. She added that the aircraft landed safely.
The aircraft took off from Rome’s Fiumicino airport bound for Los Angeles as flight DY7115. The flight had 298 passengers on-board. Shortly after take-off the aircraft suffered a “motor failure” and had to circle back to land again at Fiumicino.
According to the Italian press, the falling debris was close to a town center as well as the crowded beaches of the Roman coast.
Italy's flight safety agency (ENAC) is investigating the incident according to Italian media reports.
The aircraft
According to Airfleets, LN-LND is a 5.5 year-old Boeing 787-8 leased from AerCap. Norwegian is one of the airlines that has had engine issues (Rolls Royce Trent 1000) with its 787s.
Although this incident is likely caused from the engine, on a related issue airlines taking delivery of 787 Dreamliners, built at Boeing’s South Carolina facility, are complaining about ongoing production mistakes and quality control issues.