Engine of Air Asia flight fails just before taking off from Surabaya

JAKARTA: In the latest incident to hit an AirAsia flight departing from Surabaya, the engine of a plane failed just before it took off from Juanda International Airport in the Indonesian city, local news media reported.

The plane had been taxiing for 2m to 3m before takeoff when the engine suddenly died, horrifying passengers, who heard a loud sound, Indonesia's Metro TV reported.

Thankfully, the Bandung-bound plane made it back to the gate and the 120 passengers on board were then asked to disembark while the plane underwent repairs, Indonesia's Metro TV reported.

Passenger Yusuf Fitriadi told Metro TV that a man clad in pilots' uniform told passengers waiting at the terminal that the starter monitor had malfunctioned.

"The plane was ready and moved, but suddenly a loud sound was heard, the sound of the engine disappeared and the plane moved backwards. We were shocked and panicked.

"The plane was then pulled back to where it parked and we were asked by the stewardess to leave the plane," the passenger was quoted by Metro TV as saying.

The plane was supposed to have departed at 9pm local time on Saturday.

Yusuf said that the airline later told passengers that the flight would be resumed after the issue had been attended to, but about 90 per cent of them refused to re-board the plane, fearing that the fault would recur during the flight.

AirAsia then refunded the plane fare of those passengers who had declined to continue with the flight, Metro TV reported. –THE STRAITS TIMES/ANN