A Transportation Safety Board report says a fractured rotor blade led to an engine fire aboard a WestJet Dash 8-400, prompting an emergency landing in Kelowna.
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A Transportation Safety Board (TSB) report released Tuesday says a broken rotor blade was the cause of an engine fire that forced a WestJet aircraft to land in Kelowna, British Columbia, during a March 3, 2023 flight.
The incident involved a WestJet De Havilland Dash 8-400 that was bound for Calgary after departing Kamloops. The flight carried 74 passengers and four crew members.
According to the report, as the aircraft moved into cruising speed an engine fire warning sounded in the cockpit. The TSB says one of the plane’s engines experienced a surge, followed by a fire in the engine’s exhaust duct.
Once the warning appeared, the crew declared an emergency, shut down the affected engine and diverted to Kelowna. The report states the plane landed safely using one engine.
The TSB’s investigation identified a fractured rotor blade in the engine compressor as the source of the problem that led to the surge and subsequent loss of power. It says the resulting changes in conditions caused the engine control system to increase fuel flow, which the report links to the start of the fire.
The safety board’s findings also indicate that the issue was not isolated to the single affected engine. Further inspection by WestJet identified two other engines with fractured compressor rotor blades, raising the likelihood that the same type of component problem existed elsewhere in the aircraft.
In response to the investigation, the report says Pratt & Whitney Canada, De Havilland Aircraft and WestJet Encore Ltd. implemented inspection steps aimed at reducing the risk of rotor blade failures. The intent of the changes is to address the component-level factor identified by the TSB.
For British Columbians, the practical significance of the report is that the event highlights how quickly a routine flight can shift to an emergency and how diversions can be carried out safely when a mechanical failure is detected. In this case, the aircraft was able to land in Kelowna with one engine after the crew declared an emergency.
The report also underscores the broader aviation safety process of identifying a specific mechanical component failure, tracing the chain of effects—surge, loss of power, then fire—and implementing targeted inspection actions with the relevant manufacturers and operators.
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