Pilot removed after CAL flight runs out of fuel, forcing emergency landing in Trinidad

Trinidad and Tobago: The pilot and two other personnel of Caribbean Airlines were removed from duty after there was an inaccurate measurement of fuel for one of the engines on the aircraft, leading to emergency landing.  

According to the information, the flight enroute from Tobago to Trinidad on January 27 landed safety at the Piarco International Airport in Trinidad after it made an emergency landing due to a suspected engine failure.  

Finance Minister of the twin island nation Colm Imbert while responding to the questions in the Senate on Tuesday said there appeared to be an inaccurate measurement of fuel for one of the engines and as a result, he said that the pilot and two other personnel have been removed from duty pending the outcome of an investigation.  

“There are three persons involved the pilot and two technicians with respect to the whole question of how much fuel was in the particular tank that fed the particular engine that had the problem, so they have been I don’t want to use the word withdrawn from service but the aircraft has been withdrawn from service and these three individuals are not in active service at this point in time,” he said.  

A passenger inside BW1541 filmed the emergency landing as the plane flies into Piarco International Airport. The footage shows the flight attendants telling the passengers to ‘Brace’.  

The passenger who posted the video said that their 21-minute trip turned into a nightmare and added, “Imagine being on a flight and the pilot suddenly says cabin crew prepare for emergency landing, brace brace brace.” She said that soon after the pilot made the announcement, the air hostesses shouted ‘lean forward’ and again started to say ‘Brace Brace Brace’. 

Caribbean Airlines confirmed an emergency landing through an official statement on Monday night but did not go into details about the scope and nature of the incident. However, passengers have claimed that the aircraft suffered an engine failure.  

According to the airline, the plane landed safely at Piarco International Airport after departing from Tobago and will be out of rotation pending inspection.