Air India flight makes forced landing in New Jersey after engine fire

USPA News - An Air India flight bound for Mumbai was forced to return to Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey on Sunday after one of its engines overheated and caught fire, officials said, but none of the more than 300 passengers on board were injured. The incident happened just after 4:38 p.m. local time when Air India flight 144 took off from Runway 22R at Newark Liberty with 313 passengers and crew on board for a flight to Mumbai.

The pilot reported an engine problem moments later, forcing the aircraft to dump fuel before making a safe emergency landing just before 5 p.m. "For that plane to fly around on only one GE90 engine it was crazy. Seeing that takeoff and overweight landing was surreal," said Joy Perez, who was at the airport when the incident happened. "I can`t even begin to fathom what I would be thinking about if I had a fully loaded Triple-7 as I was about to make an emergency landing. Unbelievable! Those two pilots saved the lives of 300+ people." Airport officials said one of the aircraft`s engines likely overheated before catching fire, after which the pilot shut down the engine and made an emergency landing with only one working engine. Several airport crash tenders and ambulances were on standby as a precaution but were not needed. "Aircraft rescue and firefighters responded, and the aircraft was towed to the ramp. The passengers deplaned on the taxiway and were bussed to the terminal," the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said. The agency said it did not know the cause of the engine problem but said it would launch an investigation. Sunday`s incident came just days after Air India joined Star Alliance, which is the world`s largest airline alliance.