A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was in a holding pattern over the Pacific for about an hour before it returned to Los Angeles and made an emergency landing. When the aircraft touched down on runway 25L, its Ram Air Turbine (RAT) was deployed. A video of the same has been going viral on social media.   

Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner makes emergency landing

The video shows a LATAM Airlines flight making a landing at Los Angeles Airport. RAT can be seen deployed to the left of the landing gear in the video. As per reports, the aircraft taxied to the gate under its own power. While it cannot be said with certainty that the fuel supply to the engine was cut off, there was clearly a major loss of normal power sources.

In many cases where both engines fail and the RAT is deployed, a loss of fuel supply is one possible cause, but not the only one. Malfunction(s) in the engine or electrical failures can also lead to the deployment of RAT.

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Airline Videos shared the footage on its social media handle with the caption, “A LATAM Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for Santiago was in a holding pattern over the Pacific for nearly an hour before returning to Los Angeles.” 

It further added, “It landed on runway 25L with its RAT (Ram Air Turbine) deployed. The aircraft taxied to the gate under its own power.”

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The flight took off for Santiago at 23:21 UTC (4:51 AM IST) today and returned to Los Angeles at 1:00 UTC (6:30 AM IST), according to data available on Flightradar24.

Boeing 787 circling over Pacific

Flightradar24 data shows that the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was circling over the Pacific before it made an emergency landing at the airport. The flight tracker data also reveals that the Great Circle Distance is 8,963 km. For those unaware, it is the shortest flying distance between two airports, measured along the globe’s surface.

When is RAT deployed?

RAT is usually deployed in an aircraft during emergencies when the normal sources of electrical and hydraulic power are lost, and helps it land safely in emergencies.  

It is either deployed by the pilot in case of emergencies or engine failure. It is also automatically deployed when there is a dual-engine failure or a total loss of power. The system also gets activated if the flight control, navigation and other important systems lose power. 

Once deployed, the RAT uses the airflow (ram air) from the aircraft’s motion to spin a small turbine that generates enough hydraulic or electrical power to support critical flight systems, including flight controls, navigation, and communication, allowing pilots to maintain control and make an emergency landing.

Not the first Boeing scare

This, however, is not the first incident with a Boeing aircraft in recent days. A United Airlines flight, which was also a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, heading to Germany, had to make a U-turn shortly after taking off from Washington Dulles Airport on July 25. The flight’s left engine failed, and the pilots issued a Mayday call to ATC. The aircraft was in holding position for some time before it safely landed back at the airport.