Description

On 23 February 1995, a British Midland Boeing 737-400 made an emergency landing at Luton airport UK after losing most of the oil from both engines during initial climb out from East Midlands airport UK, attributed to failures in the quality of maintenance work and procedures during routine inspections of both engines prior to the flight.

Synopsis

This is an extract from the report published by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Branch (UK) (AAIB), UK:

"The incident occurred when the aircraft was climbing to cruise altitude after a departure from East Midlands Airport en-route to Lanzarote…Following indicated loss of oil quantity and subsequently oil pressure on both engines, the crew diverted to Luton Airport; both engines were shut down during the landing roll. The aircraft had been subject to boroscope Inspections on both engines during the night prior to the incident flight. The High Pressure (HP) rotor drive covers, one on each engine, had not been refitted, resulting in the loss of almost all of the oil from both engines during flight. There were no injuries to any crew or passengers…

The investigation identified the following causal factors: