Air traffic at Cape Town International airport was delayed on Tuesday afternoon after an ex-military fighter jet jettisoned about 3 000 litres of fuel following an engine failure shortly after take-off.
The plane, a British Bae-Buccaneer, belongs to Thundercity, a privately owned collection of operational ex-military jets housed adjacent to the airport complex.
According to Thundercity director Andrew Barends, the drama unfolded at about 3pm when one of the two-seater aircraft’s two Rolls Royce engines failed.
”The pilot requested to go up to 10 000 feet [3 000m] from where he dumped the fuel — which was vaporised because of the altitude,” said Barends.
Air-traffic control cleared the pilot and his navigator for landing after the fuel was dumped and the pilot managed to ”re-light” the stalled engine.
Barends said the aircraft, which was being flown by its regular pilot, managed to carry out a ”normal and safe” landing, whereupon some of the fuel in the plane’s venting pipes spilled on to the runway.
He said the company obviously wants to find out why the engine shut down, and will conduct the necessary procedural maintenance tests, including an engine test on the ground, before allowing the Buccaneer to fly again.
The company will also submit an incident report to the Civil Aviation Authority.
According to Barends, the company has an ”impeccable” safety record with more than 1 500 incident-free sorties.
Airport spokesperson Deidre Hendricks confirmed that runway 0119 was closed for about an hour following the fuel spill.
”This had an impact on the flight arrivals and departures, with two departure flights to Johannesburg delayed and one arrival from Johannesburg delayed,” she said. — Sapa