Summary of Occurrence
The serious incident occurred on 17 June 2011 at Budapest Liszt Ferenc International Airport. The ATR42-500 aircraft, registered YR-ATG and operated by TAROM, departed runway 31L as flight ROT234 at 17:21 UTC. Eleven seconds after rotation, the flight crew noticed a failure, flameout, and fire of the right-hand (RH) engine. The crew followed the emergency checklist, declared MAYDAY, and turned to land. They received clearance to land on runway 13L, touching down three minutes after takeoff. The engine fire was extinguished in flight. After exiting the runway and stopping on a taxiway, the captain ordered an emergency evacuation. One passenger experienced medical problems due to the emergency situation and required medical assistance. The aircraft was inspected by the fire brigade and later towed to the apron.
Investigation Findings
The Transportation Safety Bureau of Hungary (TSB) led the investigation. The defective engine was removed under TSB supervision and shipped to an authorized repair facility in Italy for disassembly. The power turbine disk assemblies were sent to the engine manufacturer, Pratt & Whitney Canada, for analysis. Inspection revealed that the engine failure was caused by a broken turbine blade. The blade defect itself was a consequence of microshrinkage porosity and subsequent fatigue crack. Other damages were consequential. The investigation also noted that two other similar events (involving the same aircraft and engine types) occurred in 2011 and one in 2013, investigated by AIB Denmark and ANSV.
Safety Actions
TSB, along with AIB Denmark and ANSV, issued five immediate safety recommendations regarding turbine blade inspections during manufacturing and on-board documentation for in-flight emergencies. Additionally, TSB recommended training and equipment modification for the Passenger Address system on the affected aircraft type.