Investigators, air passengers and airplane buffs are trying to solve an in-flight mystery today: how did a twin-engine jet airliner with 194 people aboard lose both of its engines mid-flight this past weekend?

Singapore Airlines confirms to Yahoo Travel that its Flight 836, an Airbus A330-300, lost power in both engines Saturday on a flight from Singapore to Shanghai, China. The plane was cruising at 39,000 feet and had encountered “bad weather” when the incident occurred.



“Both engines experienced a temporary loss of power and the pilots followed operational procedures to restore normal operation of the engines,” Singapore Airlines tells Yahoo Travel in a statement. “The flight continued to Shanghai and touched down uneventfully at 10:56 p.m. local time.”

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The airline didn’t say how long it took the pilots to restore the engines. But according to the flight tracking site Flightradar24, the incident happened off the coast of Hong Kong sometime between 8:46 p.m. and 9:11 p.m. local time. Within that time period, Flightradar24 shows Flight 836 descending almost 13,000 feet to an altitude of 26,600 feet. That could be when the plane lost engine power.



Flight 836 didn’t start climbing again until a few minutes later (presumably after the crew restarted the engines), at 9:16 p.m. local time, landing a little more than 90 minutes later.

According to Flightradar24 data, the Singapore Airlines flight appears to have run into trouble just off the coast of Hong Kong, when it descended from its cruising altitude 39,000 to 26,600 feet. (Photo: Flightradar24)



Right now, Singapore Airlines is not offering any theories as to what went wrong. “The engines were thoroughly inspected and tested upon arrival in Shanghai with no anomalies detected,” Singapore Airlines tells Yahoo Travel.



“There are a lot of safeguards in place, so it’s very rare that a double engine failure could happen,” says Kyle Bailey — an aviation safety analyst, pilot, and FAA Safety Team representative. One possible explanation, Bailey notes, may lie in Singapore Airlines’ mention of “bad weather” during the flight.

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“Severe hail might have gotten into the engine,” Bailey says. “That’s possible, but it’s very very rare.”

It’s also unlikely in Saturday night’s incident, Bailey says, given Singapore Airlines’s report of finding “no anomalies” in the engine. “They would have seen physical damage to the turbine had there been hail,” Bailey speculates.

An Airbus 330-300 has but two engines. Losing one is a major problem. (Photo: iStock)

While there’s currently no evidence to support what exactly happened with Flight 836, Bailey is pointing to one hypothetical scenario: “Suppose pilots have an engine failure and they inadvertently shut down the wrong engine,” Bailey says. “Now both engines are out.”

Tom Bunn — a former airline pilot and licensed counselor who helps people get over their fear of flying — is betting on the “pilot mistake” theory. “When an ‘unexplained’ loss of power occurs, the crew — even though they restored power — would be expected to land as soon as possible,” Bunn says. “[The Flight 836 crew] didn’t. So, to my jaundiced eye, the fact that they did not declare an emergency and land the plane means pilots knew why the power was lost: because of a mistake which they quickly corrected. And knowing it was not a problem with the engines, they continued the flight.”



It should be noted that those are just educated guesses; there’s been no official determination as to what caused this incident. And it bears repeating that the pilots restored engine power, the plane landed safely and no injuries were reported.



For now, the airline says it’s investigating the incident along with the maker of the plane, Airbus, as well as the engine manufacturer, Rolls-Royce. (“They’ll pull the plane’s flight data recorder,” Bailey says. “Once it’s analyzed, it’ll pinpoint where the problem was.”)

And while this incident had the best possible outcome, no one appears inclined to chalk it up to “stuff happens.” “This isn’t like a bird flying into one of the engines,” Bailey says. “This is very, very, very serious.”



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