Blown jet engine over Atlantic interrupts Bend couple’s flight home

A Bend couple returning from their first trip to Paris on Saturday had their journey turn from fun to frightening, then hours of frustration after an engine blew on their jetliner high over the Atlantic, forcing a mayday call and an emergency landing in Newfoundland.

They then spent more than 12 hours trapped with nearly 500 other passengers aboard the parked super-jumbo Air France Airbus until two other planes could be flown in to finish their flight.

“Around Greenland and over the Atlantic Ocean, I felt a loud thud and loss of 500 to 1,000 feet of altitude,” Deschutes County sheriff’s Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp told NewsChannel 21 by email. “It was followed by a significant vibration that shook the aircraft. As a pilot, I recognized it as an engine failure and as the remaining A380 engines slowed, the vibration also reduced. ”

“Within seconds, the flight crew began emergency landing protocols and people began to worry,” he said. “Several of the passengers began to cry and ask each other what was happening. Other passengers began pointing out the disintegrated engine and taking photos. According to the headrest map, the aircraft descended to 28,500 (feet).”

“About 10 minutes after the incident, the pilot announced the aircraft was stable and he was attempting a forced landing at Goose Bay (Airport in Newfoundland),” Vander Kamp said.

About an hour later, “the pilot. made a short field landing with an abrupt stop. We have been stuck in the plane since,” he said.

Vander Kamp, returning from a week in Paris with his wife, Rachel, said the pilot told passengers “the entire fan assembly separated from the engine. He called out the mayday and landed at the closest airfield.”.

CNN said the double-decker Airbus, the world’s largest passenger set, had the engine failure while at 37,000 feet near Greenland.

CBC News, citing air traffic control transmissions, reported that the plane landed in Goose Bay at around 12:40 p.m. local time and scattered debris across the runway. The runway was briefly closed while the debris was cleared.

In a statement, Air France praised the pilots and cabin crew on Flight 66 out of Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Aiport, who they said “handled this serious incident perfectly.” The statement added that the engine had suffered “serious damage,” but declined to elaborate.

Air France said it brought in two flights to carry the 497 passengers from Goose Bay to Los Angeles.

Vander Kamp said the crew reported “this airport does not maintain equipment to deplane an A380. They served a meal about two hours ago and put out all of the drink carts that have since been pillaged by passengers.”

“The pilot has made rounds around the aircraft and told us a (Boeing) 777 is en route from France to take us the rest of the way,” he wrote. “Passengers have recently become frustrated and began challenging the flight crew.. In response, they have opened a door and let people smoke cigarettes in the opening. Bathrooms are becoming filthy and in need of service.”

“We have no timeline or know what to expect next,” he wrote in the email, sent about 5 p.m. (8 p.m. Eastern time).

About seven hours later, Vander Kamp reported their “rescue plane” had just arrived from Paris, and noted that “we have been inside the airplane for 19 hours, 13 hours since the incident.” They boarded the new plane by around 1 a.m. and were scheduled to take off and resume their trip about an hour later.