Engineers arrive home on second Hercules

The 33 army engineers stranded in New Caledonia when their Hercules aircraft caught fire and made an emergency landing on Monday night are back in New Zealand.

The engineers arrived in Auckland last night on a second Hercules sent to New Caledonia yesterday with a spare engine.

The first aircraft was on its way back to New Zealand from the Solomons Islands when the the starboard outer engine caught fire.

Both fire extinguishers failed to put the fire out and the aircraft captain sent out a mayday call and put the aircraft into a steep dive to increase the wind blast over the engine and blow the fire out.

By the time the aircraft had rapidly descended from 8230m to about 6500m it is believe to have reached its maximum speed of more than 600kmh.

The Hercules landed on three engines at New Caledonia about 30 minutes later with a full turn out of emergency vehicles.

Maintenance engineers were expected to give the Hercules a thorough inspection and change the engine but it was not expected to return to New Zealand for three or four days.

Air force spokeswoman Julie Bishop said the Hercules were very reliable. An engine fire or a mid-air emergency was extremely rare and an investigation had begun to find the cause of the fire.

It is believe there was a fluid leak from the engine moments before it caught fire but it is not known if the fluid was fuel or hydraulic oil.

- NZPA