Jet that caught fire at McCarran apparently not leaving Las Vegas

The British Airways Boeing 777-200ER jet that caught fire during an aborted takeoff from McCarran International Airport earlier this month seems destined to stay in Las Vegas for awhile.

Now parked near McCarran's air cargo facility east of Terminal 3, the jet, sources say, is no longer airworthy. The airline is being charged $375 a day for parking.

British Airways, insurer American International Group, Boeing and the National Transportation Safety Board haven't confirmed that the airliner suffered a "hull loss" — a term for an aircraft that is too uneconomical to repair — and officials haven't determined yet how they would get the 304,000-pound jet off airport grounds if it can't fly.

On a Sept. 8 flight to London's Gatwick International Airport, British Airways Flight 2276 began its takeoff roll at 4:14 p.m. and when it was about one-third of the way down Runway 7 Left, an uncontained left engine failure occurred and the pilot aborted the takeoff.

Emergency response crews were on the scene of the fire within about a minute and quickly doused the flames. Observers said their quick action prevented a worse tragedy.

Several minor injuries were reported to 14 of the 158 passengers and 13 crew members who escaped from the burning jet in an evacuation after the incident.

National Transportation Safety Board and airport investigators collected several 7- to 8-inch pieces of the engine's high-pressure compressor spool from the runway and towed the aircraft to its present location in order to reopen the runway.

The Jet Airliner Crash Data Evaluation Centre, which maintains a database of airline accidents, reported the incident as "a possible hull loss." If that's true, it would be the airline's fourth within 24 years with none of them involving loss of life.

It was the 136th safety occurrence for a Boeing 777, the 15th safety occurrence at McCarran and first for that specific aircraft, Germany-based JACDEC said.

In the days immediately following the incident, crews removed the engine from the wing and had it shipped to a General Electric engine plant in Evendale, Ohio, just outside Cincinnati.

Rick Kennedy, a spokesman for GE Aviation, said the company is working with Boeing and the NTSB to try to determine why the engine case didn't contain the compressor spool debris or push it out of the back of the engine as it was designed to do. He and Boeing spokesman Paul Bergman referred further questions to the NTSB.

An NTSB inquiry routinely takes months to complete and the agency will occasionally issue updates about a pending investigation.

Eric Weiss, a spokesman for the NTSB, confirmed that GE officials are tearing down the engine to try to find a cause of the incident.

It's unclear whether the agency will need the plane any longer in its investigation.

"You never know when you may need to have another look at something in the middle of an investigation," Weiss said in a telephone interview.

The two companies that would know whether the plane is an insurance write-off had little to say.

"British Airways is continuing to work alongside Boeing, GE and the NTSB to review the damage," said airline spokeswoman Caroline Titmuss. "Since the assessment is still underway, we do not have final decision on what will happen to this aircraft."

"We have no comment," Matthew Gallagher, a spokesman for insurer AIG, added in an email.

The timeline for having the aircraft parked at the airport will depend on that decision.

"From our perspective, there isn't much to say," said Chris Jones, public affairs and marketing manager at McCarran. "It's basically here until it isn't."

But Jones did confirm that British Airways is paying the standard rate of $375 a day to park the plane at McCarran.

"As to how they'll get it out of here, that'll be up to the airline to work out a plan," Jones said. "If it's not deemed airworthy, I would imagine it could be disassembled and trucked out, but again, I have no insight into what will actually occur with this one, nor do I know when such a decision will be made."

The option of repairing the plane to make it airworthy is problematic because the area where the jet is parked is not suitable for maintenance activities.

In fact, British Airways requested the plane be stored inside a hangar — but there are no hangars available at McCarran.

Maintenance is limited to designated areas at the airport, primarily because of potential environmental concerns with capturing oil and fluid runoff from the plane.

"Depending upon the scope of the work, McCarran might require the 777 to be towed to another site here that is better suited to maintenance purposes," Jones said.

Contact reporter Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Find @RickVelotta on Twitter.