On October ninth at 06:23 native time, Aerolíneas Argentinas (AR/ARG) Boeing 737-8HX, registration LV-FQY, landed at Almirante Marcos Alberto Zar Worldwide Airport in Trelew, coming from Buenos Aires, protecting common flight AR1802 with 165 passengers on board.
Simply virtually an hour later, this identical plane was able to function flight AR1803 between Trelew and Buenos Aires, starting pushback at 07:16 native time. After about 10 minutes, it received to runway 25 and began takeoff.
The airport, situated in Argentine Patagonia, has a runway 2,560 meters lengthy, or about 8,400 toes, with runways threshold 07 and 25. Throughout their takeoff roll, at round 100 knots, the aircraft’s left engine failed, inflicting a fireplace. The crew took rapid motion, braking two seconds following the fireplace and leaving the runway on the primary taxiway.
After being reviewed and the malfunction corrected, at 15:11 native time on October nineteenth, the Boeing 737-800 LV-FQY departed Trelew certain for Buenos Aires on a ferry flight, the place Aerolíneas Argentinas has its amenities and upkeep hangars.
This Boeing 737-8HX, with serial quantity 39456, was included by Aerolíneas Argentinas in January 2014, model new from the manufacturing facility. It acquired the Argentine registry LV-FQY and arrived in Buenos Aires from Seattle Boeing Area by way of Caracas on January twenty sixth, 2014.
The plane has a configuration for 170 passengers in two lessons, being 8 seats in Enterprise and 162 seats in Economic system, and is powered by two CFMI CFM56-7BE engines, like different Boeing 737-800s within the Aerolíneas Argentinas fleet.
Lower than every week after the primary incident, on the morning of October fifteenth, one other Aerolíneas Argentinas Boeing 737-800, on this case with Argentine registration LV-FSK, was parked at Aeroparque Jorge Newbery Airport in downtown Buenos Aires, the nation’s primary airport, scheduled to function flight AR1526 to Córdoba.
At 09:09 native time, the plane, with 168 passengers on board, headed for runway 31, situated south of Aeroparque. Thirty minutes later, takeoff commenced.
In distinction to the incident that occurred simply six days earlier in Trelew, the Boeing 737 took off from Aeroparque, as may be seen in a video shared on social media, however solely seconds after takeoff, a couple of toes above the bottom, the left engine suffered a failure and caught fireplace. The crew shut down the engine and, for the subsequent 120 seconds, stored the aircraft at an altitude of 1,200 toes, then climbed to five,000 toes and landed safely at 10:00 native time at Ezeiza Airport, one other airport in Buenos Aires, following a 21-minute flight.
The second incident, occurred on October fifteenth, was just like the primary, held on October ninth, as each occurred seconds after takeoff, involving two completely different Boeing 737-800s from the identical airline and two left CFM engines. Moreover, the plane involved have comparable traits and engine parts.
In consequence, Aerolíneas Argentinas determined to floor a number of Boeing 737-800s from its fleet, all of which have CFM engines with comparable traits to these concerned within the two incidents. Based on our database, the airline has 28 Boeing 737-800s and two Boeing 737-800(F)s in its fleet, all with CFM engines however with completely different specs.
On the time of publication, seven Aerolíneas Argentinas Boeing 737-800s are grounded as a result of these failures at Ezeiza Airport in Buenos Aires.
Boeing 737-81D with registration quantity LV-FQY
Boeing 737-8BK with registration quantity LV-FQZ
Boeing 737-8BK with registration quantity LV-FSK
Boeing 737-8HX with registration quantity LV-FUA
Boeing 737-8HX with registration quantity LV-FUB (*)
Boeing 737-8SH with registration quantity LV-FUC
Boeing 737-8SH with registration quantity LV-FVM
Boeing 737-8SH with registration quantity LV-FVO
On October twenty third, after six days grounded at Ezeiza, the Boeing 737-8HX, registration LV-FUB, resumed common service with flight AR1662 between Buenos Aires Ezeiza and Bariloche.
In addition to confirming which planes are grounded, Aerolíneas Argentinas acknowledged in the identical press launch that it “absolutely complies with the checks specified by its producers. Regardless of this, and the corporate’s institutional energy when it comes to its dedication to security, that is the fourth incident recorded within the final 12 months involving the identical sort of engine. These are engines manufactured by CFM (GE Aerospace and Safran Plane Engines), with a particular sort of element that induced these failures.”
“CFM recommends an inspection after 17,200 cycles (landings and takeoffs). Not one of the engines that skilled failures have been near reaching that threshold, so a technical opinion was requested earlier than returning these plane to service. On the identical time, technical opinions have been additionally requested from different airways within the area that function plane with this engine sort and have skilled comparable occasions.”
As with the Boeing 737 LV-FQY, the Boeing 737 LV-FSK was launched by Aerolíneas Argentinas model new, a part of an order for greater than 25 Boeing 737-800s. Each plane arrived in Buenos Aires from Seattle in 2014.
Boeing 737-800s are the principle plane in Aerolíneas Argentinas’ fleet, with 30 on the time of publication. Embraer 190s, Boeing 737 MAX 8s, and Boeing 737-700s are additionally a part of the fleet, with respect to narrow-body plane. It additionally has wide-body plane, being Airbus A330-200, that are centered primarily on worldwide operations.
AircraftTotalTypeAverage age
Airbus A330-20010Passenger15 years
Boeing 737-7004Passenger18 years
Boeing 737-80028Passenger17 years
Boeing 737-800(F)2Cargo24 years
Boeing 737 MAX 813Passenger5 years
Embraer 19024Passenger14 years
Relating to different fleet developments, Aerolíneas Argentinas is incorporating new Boeing 737 MAX 8 plane, that are a part of an order positioned virtually 10 years in the past. One in every of them arrived in 2024, one other this 12 months, and two extra are nonetheless to be delivered inside the subsequent two months, with the order anticipated to be accomplished in 2026.
On the identical time, the airline is retiring from common service its Boeing 737-700s, added as of June 2009. Subsequent 12 months, it is going to solely function with its personal 737-700s, registered as LV-BYY and LV-GOO.
Cowl photograph: © La Roche Spotters – JetPhotos (Buenos Aires Aeroparque, Argentina)
