Earlier this week, an Air Belgium Cargo flight between Brussels and Cincinnati declared an emergency just before the Atlantic crossing.
A chain of events unfolded with this, which required an emergency diversion back to it’s origin airport.
Without further ado, let’s get into it…
KF278 – Brussels-Cincinnati…
Air Belgium Cargo flight KF278 is a routine scheduled flight between Brussels and Cincinnati.
The aircraft involved in this emergency is registered as OE-LAL.
As per data from Planespotters.net, OE-LAL is a 16.9 year old Airbus A330-200P2F.
It started out life with Etihad Airways as a passenger aircraft back in June 2007.
By December 2021, it was sent to Altavair AirFinance, where it was converted into a freighter aircraft.
From there, the aircraft was handed over to Air Belgium Cargo in August 2022.
A few months after that, it was transferred to Hongyuan Group, with Air Belgium operating the flights for the Chinese airline.
Air Belgium Cargo currently have two of the A330-200P2Fs, with them both operating for Hongyuan Group.
KF278 departed Brussels at 2121 local time on March 20 and initially proceeded west to Cincinnati.
Upon reaching the Atlantic crossing, the aircraft made a u-turn and subsequently declared an emergency.
Furthermore, the aircraft then made a descent to FL200 during this, and continued back to Brussels.
KF278 landed safely after three hours and six minutes flight time.
Ventilation Problem in the Cargo Hold…
As per @FlightEmergency on X, a cause was identified for the emergency return back to Brussels for the Cincinnati flight.
Air Belgium Cargo flight KF278 suffered a ventilation problem in the cargo hold, which can be dangerous for freighters.
Furthermore, the aircraft has been grounded since the incident, and has not been back in the air at the time of writing (21/3/24 @ 1440 UK time).
All eyes will be on the extent of the repairs, as well as how long it will take to fix the issue at hand.
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