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Monday 5 January 2015

AirAsia: We followed SOP on 'dead engine flight'

AirAsia Indonesia said it followed all standard operating procedures by returning a Bandung-bound plane to the apron after a system shut down.

The engines on the Surabaya-Bandung flight QZ7633 carrying 161 passengers reportedly died just before take-off yesterday.

However, AirAsia clarified that it was not the engines that died but the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) which automatically turns off in certain circumstances as part of its safety feature.

The APU powers up the pneumatic systems on the ground before the engines start, it said in a statement.

It shuts down in the event of overspeeding, low oil pressure or overheating, AirAsia Indonesia said.

"Further checks were completed by our engineering team according to their standard operating procedues.

"After the final check was completed, the aircraft was released to fly about an hour later.

"Despite the sensationalised coverage, there were no safety issues and the aircraft landed safely in Bandung," AirAsia Indonesia chief executive officer Sunu Widyatmoko said.

An Airbus A320-200, QZ7633 is the same make as ill-fated QZ8501 which crashed in bad weather on Dec 28.

A total 34 bodies of the 162 on board have been retrieved from the Karimata Strait. The search continues.

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