When the air traffic control notified them of a fire, the crew’s first decision was to shut down the engine. The crew then checked the problem while the plane circled above Santa Monica Bay. The crew’s decision to stop the innermost left engine, which had burst into flames, may have prevented the problem from worsening. The plane was headed for London’s Heathrow Airport on a non-stop flight of more than 5,000 miles and take about 11 hours to complete. Eighteen crew members and 351 passengers were on board the Boeing 747 aircraft. Having ascertained the cause of the sudden surge and pop sound, the pilots had several options to consider, with each presenting variable consequences.
The first option was to return to Los Angeles International Airport immediately. While this seemed the easiest and less-riskier alternative, it had significant financial ramifications. It would have meant dumping about 30,000 dollars’ worth of fuel into the open ocean and making an emergency landing. The emergency return to Los Angeles airport would have led to flight delays for more than five hours, meaning that the company would have had to compensate its customers according to recently enacted European Union regulations. In this case, that meant that British Airlines would have parted with approximately 275,000 dollars in reimbursement. The pilots’ second option was to proceed to any other major airport along its planned route (like John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York and O’Hare Airport in Chicago). If the pilots pursued this alternative, they would have to land and have the plane examined while finding an alternative one for the customers.
Lastly, flight 268 could continue on its initially planned 11-hour journey of more than 5,000 miles to London’s Heathrow Airport using the three remaining engines. It was legal to fly with only three engines, but the flight’s cost will increase significantly. The pilots chose to continue with the journey, having discussed with engineers in Heathrow and having determined that the fire was no longer burning. The flight plan took over Greenland, Iceland, and Ireland, where several airports were available for an emergency landing. The plane also flew over oceans, but it was not over open waters for long, and finally landed at Manchester Airport due to a lack of sufficient useable fuel to reach London.