The four members of the Ébène Quartet were among the 213
passengers aboard Air France flight AF 217 when one of its engines
caught fire on 11 March. The aeroplane, a twin-engine Airbus A330,
was forced to return to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport
in Mumbai after just 27 minutes in the air. Two of the quartet’s
members – first violinist Pierre Colombet and violist Mathieu
Herzog – witnessed flames coming from the engine on the left-hand
wing.
‘I woke up to the sounds of screaming from the passengers,’ said
Herzog. ‘There was very little turbulence but people on the left
side could clearly see the flames, including Pierre. I was on the
right, and did my best to calm people down. The pilot soon made an
announcement saying we would be turning back, and when we landed
there were firemen everywhere around the plane, pouring water on
the brakes. We were told later that the plane was carrying 30 tons
of fuel and that the brake temperature on landing was around 800C.
We spoke to the co-pilot later and he said it was an extremely
dangerous situation.’
The players suffered a 26-hour delay in returning to Paris,
eventually having to go via New Delhi. ‘It was lucky that we missed
no engagements, although we had a very important rehearsal for a
concert on 15 March – the opening concert of the 'Printemps Musical
de Saint-Cosme' festival in Tours this Friday,’ said Herzog, who
has so far heard nothing from Air France regarding
compensation.
According to reports, air traffic investigators found that a sharp
knife was stuck in the pipes inside the engine, and that the
temperature-control system had malfunctioned. All passengers
disembarked safely and were transferred to other flights.
Photo: Julien Mignot
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