British Midland Airbus A321 In-Flight Engine Failure (G-MIDL)

Incident Overview and Flight History On August 1, 2008, British Midland operated an international passenger flight from East Midlands Airport in Great Britain to Tenerife South Airport in the Canary Islands, Spain. The aircraft, an Airbus A321-231 registered as G-MIDL, was operating as callsign BMA 7851 with 199 people on board, including two pilots, six cabin flight attendants, and 191 passengers. During steady cruise at flight level 350 in the Lisbon Flight Information Region, approximately 105 nautical miles west of Faro VOR, the flight crew reported an audible abnormal engine noise and noticed airframe vibrations. These symptoms were immediately followed by an “ENG2 STALL” message displayed on the Electronic Centralized Aircraft Monitor (ECAM). The crew performed the appropriate checklist and reduced the right engine power, which caused the stalls and indicator variations to disappear. However, attempting to increase thrust again brought back the abnormal engine behavior. Consequently, the crew decided to shut down engine number 2 and divert the aircraft to Faro International Airport in Portugal. The pilot-in-command performed an uneventful one-engine-inoperative landing at 09:27 UTC. The weather at Faro Airport was clear with no significant weather, calm winds, a QNH of 1020, and a temperature of 18°C. There were no personal injuries, and damage to the aircraft was confined to internal components of engine number 2.