An Air Canada plane bound for Paris, France met with trouble after its engine began spurting out fire moments after take-off.

This caused the pilot to make an emergency landing for the safety of the 400 odd people on board.

Superb work by the pilots and their air traffic controllers, dealing with a backfiring engine on takeoff. Heavy plane full of fuel, low cloud thunderstorms, repeated compressor stalls. Calm, competent, professional - well done!

Details: https://t.co/VaJeEdpzcn @AirCanada pic.twitter.com/7aOHyFsR29

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) June 7, 2024

Flames

Flight AC872 took off from Canada's Toronto Pearson International Airport on Jun. 5, 2024, carrying a total of 389 passengers and 13 crew.

The plane departed at around 12:17am (Toronto time), according to NDTV World.

Shortly after its departure, however, the aircraft began shooting out blinding flames from its jet engine.

A video taken by a witness showed the fire appearing just moments after the plane left the ground.

This carried on as the plane continued its ascent.

Emergency landing

Plane crew declared the standard international distress signal "PAN-PAN (Possible Assistance Needed)".

The Boeing 777 aircraft then returned to the Toronto airport sans any injuries, reported New York Post.

"After the aircraft landed, it was inspected by airport response vehicles as per normal operating processes, and it taxied to the gate on its own," the airlines said.

The time taken for the plane to leave its gate and make a U-turn to land at the airport was slightly more than an hour, according to flight tracker FlightAware.

Why the flames?

A statement released by Air Canada revealed the incident was due to an "engine issue" involving a "compressor stall".

It explained that videos of the incident showed the engine at the point of compressor stall, which can happen with a turbine engine when its aerodynamics are affected.

"This can be caused by various factors, but the result is the flow of air through the engine is disrupted causing fuel to ignite further down the engine, which is why flames are visible in the video."

"It is not the engine itself on fire," assured the airlines.

Top images via Chris Hadfield/Twitter