By Tara Yap and Florence Hibionada
While scary videos emerged from the troubled Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight that made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on Thursday, a Roman Catholic priest, one of the 347 passengers onboard, disclosed that there was still a general sense of calmness.
A Philippine Airlines flight bound for Manila made an emergency landing in Los Angeles a few minutes after take-off due to a reported mechanical problem on Friday. (Screenshot from the video of Andrew Blake Ames via Reuters / MANILA BULLETIN)
“It was intense, but there was no panic. There was no crying,” said Fr. Pedro C. Calvo Jr., who hails from Calinog town, Iloilo province.
“This is my second life. This is our second life,” added Fr. Calvo, who personally saw flames spewing out of the plane’s engine in intervals.
Fr. Calvo, the parish priest of San Juan town in Batangas, was among the 347 passengers and 18 crew of the PAL flight PR113 bound for Manila. He was in California visiting a sibling.
According to Fr. Calvo, the plane took off normally. But minutes after, passengers seated by the window started seeing flames spewing from an engine that made the plane shake.
When Captain Triston Simeon decided to turn back to LAX and make an emergency landing five minutes into the flight due to “engine trouble,” Fr. Calvo just prayed.
“I prayed God will guide our pilot so he can bring us all back safely. The plane could explode, yet with God’s grace, the emergency landing went smoothly,” Fr. Calvo added.
When the plane landed at the LAX runway, Fr. Calvo recalled how anxiety faded and turned into a celebratory mood with passengers and crew applauding.
The US Federal Aviation Administration said the plane returned and landed safely. Television station ABC-7 in Los Angeles aired video of the aircraft after takeoff that showed flames and smoke coming out of the right engine.
The plane landed around noon local time (2000 GMT) and was met by the Los Angeles Fire Department, the airport said. The emergency landing did not affect other flights.
The Ilonggo priest lauded the 18 flight attendants of PAL for quickly assisting the needs of passengers, especially one woman who fainted.
Upon disembarking from the plane, the priest saw how the plane’s tires were totally burned.
Although the cause of the apparent engine failure was not immediately clear, it comes as Boeing faces intense scrutiny over twin deadly crashes involving its 737 MAX single-aisle jetliner.
The 737 MAX has been grounded worldwide since March.
GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric, which makes the GE90 engine for the 777 twin-aisle jetliner, said it was aware of the incident and was “working with the airline to determine the cause of the event and to promptly return the aircraft to service.”
Boeing said it was aware of an incident regarding Philippine Airlines and was closely monitoring the situation.
“You saw bursts of flames, little flames shooting out from the engine,” said Andrew Ames, a 36-year-old fitness professional in Los Angeles, who watched as the 777 ascended over the ocean after takeoff. “It almost looked like backfire flames from a motorcycle or car.”
“I had never seen a plane spew flames repeatedly. Then it stopped. As soon as it stopped, I saw the plane bank left, like it was heading back to airport,” Ames said.
PAL spokeswoman Cielo Villaluna said the flight crew noticed smoke in the plane’s second engine, declared an emergency and returned safely to the airport.
“All passengers are safe and sound,” Villaluna said. “They are all being assisted to another flight.” (With a report from Reuters)