Local News in Brief : London-Bound Jet Returns to LAX
A Pan American World Airways jumbo jetliner bound for London with 353 people aboard returned to Los Angeles International Airport for “routine emergency landing” Wednesday after air traffic controllers spotted an engine fire as the plane was taking off, according to federal officials.
Ellie Brekke, a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration in Los Angeles, said controllers in the airport tower saw the smoke and flames from one of the four engines on the Boeing 747 as Flight 120 accelerated down the runway at 12:44 p.m.
She said the tower immediately notified the pilot, who shut down the engine and put out the fire before dumping much of his fuel over the Pacific to lighten the load before landing.
The dumping process took about half an hour. The plane landed at 1:34 p.m. without incident.
There were no reports of injury. The passengers were rerouted onto other flights.
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