TAP Air Portugal A320 Engine Explodes During Take-Off
TAP Air Portugal A320 Engine Explodes During Take-Off

TAP Air Portugal A320 Engine Fails During Take-Off

Yesterday, a TAP Air Portugal Airbus A320-200, with registration CS-TMW and performing flight TP862 from Lisbon (Portugal) to Venice (Italy), suffered a dramatic engine failure on take-off. The whole incident was caught on camera by the aviation TV channel – Aviação TV.

The aircraft was starting to accelerate down runway 03 when the left-hand engine vented a jet of flames, immediately after the crew rejected the takeoff. Nobody was injured in this incident.

In the video below you can see the aircraft slowing down safely and clearing the runway, about 700 meters after it was surrounded by emergency vehicles.

On the end of the video, you can see airport workers arriving to clear the debris from the runway. In amongst them is a managerial looking person, who is collecting and bagging up items from the ground. These are undoubtedly engine fragments, which will be essential to the investigation into what went wrong.

TAP Air Portugal A320 Engine Explodes During Take-Off

“TAP confirms that the Airbus A320 flying TP862 Lisbon Venice had a technical engine failure during the start of the take-off process, which was immediately stopped by the Pilots team. There were no consequences for passengers on-board who will travel on another Company flight. ” said the airline to a Portuguese newspaper.

Due to this incident the Lisbon airport was conditioned for approximately 40 minutes, which caused several delays mainly on departures. Several flights to Lisbon were diverted to Faro Airport.

TAP Air Portugal A320 Engine Explodes During Take-Off
Flight TP14 diverted to Faro airport (by FlightRadar24)

CS-TMW, named Luisa Todi, is a 17.8 year old Airbus A320-200. Arrived at TAP in 2004 and was the first A320 to receive the sharklets retrofit. It is powered by two CFM56-5B engines.

This is the second incident with the CFM56 engines in 3 days.

GOL Incident

On 2nd September a Gol Transportes Aereos Boeing 737-800, with registration PR-GUB and performing flight G3-1561, from Juazeiro Do Norte to São Paulo Guarulhos (Brazil), was accelerating for takeoff from runway 31 when the crew rejected the takeoff at high speed; this was due to the failure of the right-hand engine (CFM56), which emitted streaks of flames.

The aircraft stopped about 1700 meters down the runway. There were 154 people on-board.

One of the passengers recorded the incident: