Balloon flies into the engine of KLM Boeing 777 during landing, runway closed

A KLM Boeing 777-300 had an unexpected encounter with multiple balloons during its landing at Guarulhos Airport in Sao Paulo, Brazil leading to the temporary closure of the runway.

Flight KL791 arrived in Brazil from Amsterdam on Monday evening after an approximately eleven-hour and twenty-minute journey. Upon landing, the pilot of the Boeing 777-300ER, registered as PH-BVW, reported to the air traffic control tower that the aircraft had struck several balloons at an altitude of 500 feet. A video of the conversation between the pilot and air traffic controller has been posted on the Brazilian site Aeroin, in which the KLM pilot states, “We flew past at least three balloons, and one of them definitely flew into our right engine.”

The nature of these balloons remains unclear. In response to the incident, the Brazilian airport temporarily closed the runway for inspection.

Remarkably, the PH-BVW was back in operation for the return flight to Amsterdam a few hours after the incident. KLM operates daily flights from Schiphol Airport to Sao Paulo using the Boeing 777-300ER.