The incident was reported in The Aviation Herald. According to that report, JA21MC, an Airbus A320-200, had 104 passengers and crew onboard when the left engine lost power while climbing out of Fukuoka.
The incident occurred while the Airbus was climbing through FL310. The pilots stopped the ascent, went back to FL24, and prepared to return to Fukuoka. However, the aircraft was diverted to Kitakyushu. The plane landed safely about 75 minutes after departure from Fukuoka.
The leased aircraft came factory fresh to Starflyer eight years ago. Starflyer was using the plane to flight SFJ42, the 09:20 departure from Fukuoka.
he plane appears to have been approximately 17 minutes into the flight and at nearly 10,000 meters when the engine incident occurred. At this point, the aircraft was west of Oku. The flight continued for a further 15 minutes without losing too much altitude, dropping only to about 8,300 meters. As the aircraft reached the southern tip of Awaji Island, it turned around and began heading back towards Fukuoka, the rate of descent increasing. At some point, the plane diverted, and headed to Kitakyushu, a short distance north of Fukuoka.
Kitakyushu is the headquarters for StarFlyer, a Japanese mid-market airline that has been jetting around the country for the past two decades. With the exception of flights to Taiwan, the airline flies to a select range of domestic destinations around Japan. StarFlyer has a fleet of just 13 planes, all A320-200s. It has a blemish-free safety and accident record.
Lurking behind the scene is Japanese heavy hitter, All Nippon Airways. They have an 18% shareholding in the airline.
Credit: Andrew Curranhttps://simpleflying.com/starflyer-a320-engine-power-loss/
