An Air New Zealand ATR 72-500 had to return to Napier airport following an engine incident on 22 June.
The aircraft, registered ZK-MCP, was on the Napier-Auckland route, when one of its Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127F engines experienced a “back firing”. The airline stressed that there was no engine fire.
“One engine on the aircraft experienced surging shortly after take-off. This resulted in the fuel burning unevenly leading to the engine back firing… the intermittently rich fuel mix resulted in short flashes being seen near the engine’s exhaust,” says the airline.
It adds that the engine was subsequently shut down, and that the turboprop landed at 15:50 local time without further incident. Local media reports say the left engine was the affected powerplant.
The aircraft is being inspected by engineers.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that the 2000-vintage aircraft is owned by Air NZ and operated by Mount Cook Airline.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
