Incident Overview
On 4 January 2009 at 18:01 UTC, Air France flight AF-652, a Boeing 777-300ER registered as F-GSQN, experienced an engine failure while en route from Paris Orly to Fort de France. The crew received a "caution ENG FAIL L" message and subsequently shut down engine #1. At the time of the occurrence, the aircraft was flying over the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 600 nautical miles southwest of Terceira Island. The flight diverted to Lajes Air Base (LPLA) and landed safely at 20:00 UTC.
Flight Details
The aircraft was carrying 15 crew members and 475 passengers, totaling 490 persons on board. No injuries were reported, and the aircraft sustained no damage. The flight phase was en route, and the flight type was transport. The location of the incident was the Santa Maria Oceanic FIR at coordinates N31º 55' W36º 07'.
Probable Cause
The probable cause of the engine failure was a failure of the transfer gearbox (TGB) horizontal bevel gearshaft.