An ANA Boeing 767 was forced to return to its origin yesterday. Video of the aircraft shows the right engine emitting flames, prompting the premature return to Fukuoka. Thankfully it seems as though nobody was injured in the incident.

Yesterday (19th December 2019), a group of All Nippon Airways passengers were expecting to fly from Fukuoka, in the south west of Japan, to Tokyo's Haneda Airport. Unfortunately, the passengers never made it past 6,000 feet as the aircraft returned to where it had departed. Here, the Boeing 767 made a safe landing, reportedly on just one engine.

ANA flight 246

ANA's flight 246 is one of the Japanese carrier's daily scheduled flights from Fukuoka to the nation's capital, Tokyo. It is scheduled to depart from the airport towards the south west of Japan at 09:40. Following a 1-hour 35-minute flight it is then due to touch down at Tokyo's Haneda Airport at 11:15.

However, yesterday the flight was canceled after the aircraft returned to its origin shortly following departure. In total, flight NH246 spent around 24 minutes in the air having taken off from runway 16. The aircraft also landed back on runway 16 after its ordeal.

What happened?

According to the Aviation Herald, ANA said that the aircraft suffered from an engine issue. Simple Flying has contacted ANA directly regarding the story. At the time of writing, Simple Flying had not heard back from the airline. The article will be updated accordingly if a statement is received.

Witness reports published by the Av Herald make it seem worse. In fact, the publication reported: "Passengers reported there was a shocking sound, all electricity on board was temporarily shut down. The crew subsequently announced an engine fire."

A video published to YouTube appears to confirm that an engine fire took place during the flight. We have attached a copy of the video below:

About the aircraft

The aircraft involved in yesterday's unusual event was an ANA Boeing 767-300 registered as JA606A. According to Planespotters.net, the 17.4-year-old aircraft has always belonged to ANA since its initial delivery. Between July 2007 and January 2015, the aircraft wore a special panda-themed livery. ANA is well known for its special liveries including the "Flying Honu" turtle on the A380, and a series of Star Wars liveries on the side of other aircraft.

Since the incident which took place yesterday, the aircraft has remained on the ground in Fukuoka. As a result, the flight to Tokyo Haneda was canceled, meaning that passengers would've been rerouted on other flights. Thankfully, it appears that beyond the inconvenience, passengers avoided anything more serious.

Were you onboard NH246 yesterday. Did you witness the engine fire? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!