Qantas Grounds A380 fleet
11-05-2010 | 08:32 AM
#21
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Che Guevara
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SYDNEY, Australia – Qantas believes the engine that blew apart on the world's largest jetliner was probably designed or built incorrectly, the chief of the Australian airline said Friday, focusing attention on the engine's manufacturer, Rolls-Royce.
Hours after CEO Alan Joyce spoke, another Qantas plane with Rolls-Royce engines suffered an engine problem and turned back to Singapore's airport shortly after it took off for Sydney. Qantas said the problem with the smaller Boeing 747 was not serious and the flight was scheduled to take off again, 3 1/2 hours late.
Rolls-Royce Group PLC did not comment on Friday's developments. Shares in the London-based aerospace, power systems and defence company, a business separate from the car manufacturer, were down 5.4 percent on the London Stock Exchange.
On Thursday, one of Qantas' six Airbus A380s suffered a massive engine failure in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines about four minutes into a flight to Sydney and shed pieces of metal over Indonesia before returning to make a safe emergency landing at Singapore's airport.
"We believe this is probably most likely a material failure or some type of design issue," Joyce told a news conference in Sydney. "We don't believe this is related to maintenance in any way." He said the engines had been maintained by Rolls-Royce since they were installed.
The double-decker A380 is the world's largest and newest airliner, tall as a seven-story building and capable of carrying 853 passengers, although most airlines use them to hold about 500 passengers. Its roomy first and business classes are seen as a major appeal for passengers.
Airbus has delivered a total of 37 since its debut in 2007. Twenty, operated by Qantas, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, use Trent 900 engines. All grounded those planes after the accident over Indonesia but Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines resumed flying them Friday after they passed safety inspections. Airbus said it had asked all airlines operating A380 planes with Rolls-Royce engines to carry out safety inspections "to ensure continuous safe operations of the fleet."
The 17 A380s operated by Emirates and Air France use engines from a different manufacturer.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is leading an investigation with help from Qantas, Airbus, Rolls-Royce and aviation authorities in several countries. Ian Sangston, the bureau's general manager of air safety investigation, said the faulty engine was being removed for inspection and the flight data and cockpit voice recorders were being analyzed in Australia.
Investigators also hoped to recover more than 100 pieces of debris, some as large as doors, scattered across Indonesia's Batam island. The agency will issue a preliminary report by Dec. 3, though the full investigation could take one year, Sangston said.
Uncontained engine failures, where high-energy debris from the rotating parts break through the engine casing, have become especially rare due to improvements in design and metallurgy.
They usually are caused by engines sucking in objects like runway debris or a bird, or maintenance crews failing to replace parts that wear out.
William Voss, head of the Flight Safety Foundation based in Alexandria, Virginia, said it appeared credible that a design or construction flaw was the cause in this case.
Maintenance failures are very rare in engines as new as the one that failed, which was built two years ago, he said. And a foreign object would like have caused visible damage to the outside cover of the engine or the huge fan — or turbine — at the front of the engine.
He said he thought it was most likely that the Qantas flight was hit by a failure in the area that contains the turbine section and other rotating parts.
"This runs at extremely high temperatures and at very high, even supersonic, speeds. In that environment any minute manufacturing defect or a fault in the metallurgy such as microscopic cracks can lead to a failure," he said.
He said if the problem was shared by all Trent 900 engines he believed it would have been be caught very quickly in the inspections.
The Qantas problem was the most serious midair incident involving the A380.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has issued orders twice this year advising airlines about extra inspections or repairs needed to deal with potential problems with the Trent 900.
Joyce said such directives are commonplace — an airline could receive 100 per year across a range of planes — and that Qantas was in full compliance with them.
One August order indicated that routine wear could cause the turbine discs — rings the turbine blades are attached to — to come into contact with stationary parts of the engine, resulting in an in-flight shutdown, or even an oil fire.
EASA spokesman Jeremie Teahan said the agency did not believe that problem could lead to a break-up of the type that occurred Thursday.
However, a news media photo of engine debris indicates that a a turbine disc — may have failed, said John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member and an expert on aircraft maintenance.
A photo posted online by The Australian newspaper shows a turbine disc broken nearly in half, its blades missing. The location of the break appears to indicate that it was the disc that failed, Goglia said. The photo also doesn't show any signs of discoloration on the disc that would indicate overheating, he said.
There are several reasons why by a disc might fail, but they usually involve the material used to make the disc or the manufacturing method, Goglia said. He cautioned that he was looking at one photo, which was not enough information to make a definitive judgment.
____
Joshi reported from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Joan Lowy in Washington, Slobodan Lekic in Brussels and Jane Wardell in London contributed to this report.
Hours after CEO Alan Joyce spoke, another Qantas plane with Rolls-Royce engines suffered an engine problem and turned back to Singapore's airport shortly after it took off for Sydney. Qantas said the problem with the smaller Boeing 747 was not serious and the flight was scheduled to take off again, 3 1/2 hours late.
Rolls-Royce Group PLC did not comment on Friday's developments. Shares in the London-based aerospace, power systems and defence company, a business separate from the car manufacturer, were down 5.4 percent on the London Stock Exchange.
On Thursday, one of Qantas' six Airbus A380s suffered a massive engine failure in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines about four minutes into a flight to Sydney and shed pieces of metal over Indonesia before returning to make a safe emergency landing at Singapore's airport.
"We believe this is probably most likely a material failure or some type of design issue," Joyce told a news conference in Sydney. "We don't believe this is related to maintenance in any way." He said the engines had been maintained by Rolls-Royce since they were installed.
The double-decker A380 is the world's largest and newest airliner, tall as a seven-story building and capable of carrying 853 passengers, although most airlines use them to hold about 500 passengers. Its roomy first and business classes are seen as a major appeal for passengers.
Airbus has delivered a total of 37 since its debut in 2007. Twenty, operated by Qantas, Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, use Trent 900 engines. All grounded those planes after the accident over Indonesia but Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines resumed flying them Friday after they passed safety inspections. Airbus said it had asked all airlines operating A380 planes with Rolls-Royce engines to carry out safety inspections "to ensure continuous safe operations of the fleet."
The 17 A380s operated by Emirates and Air France use engines from a different manufacturer.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is leading an investigation with help from Qantas, Airbus, Rolls-Royce and aviation authorities in several countries. Ian Sangston, the bureau's general manager of air safety investigation, said the faulty engine was being removed for inspection and the flight data and cockpit voice recorders were being analyzed in Australia.
Investigators also hoped to recover more than 100 pieces of debris, some as large as doors, scattered across Indonesia's Batam island. The agency will issue a preliminary report by Dec. 3, though the full investigation could take one year, Sangston said.
Uncontained engine failures, where high-energy debris from the rotating parts break through the engine casing, have become especially rare due to improvements in design and metallurgy.
They usually are caused by engines sucking in objects like runway debris or a bird, or maintenance crews failing to replace parts that wear out.
William Voss, head of the Flight Safety Foundation based in Alexandria, Virginia, said it appeared credible that a design or construction flaw was the cause in this case.
Maintenance failures are very rare in engines as new as the one that failed, which was built two years ago, he said. And a foreign object would like have caused visible damage to the outside cover of the engine or the huge fan — or turbine — at the front of the engine.
He said he thought it was most likely that the Qantas flight was hit by a failure in the area that contains the turbine section and other rotating parts.
"This runs at extremely high temperatures and at very high, even supersonic, speeds. In that environment any minute manufacturing defect or a fault in the metallurgy such as microscopic cracks can lead to a failure," he said.
He said if the problem was shared by all Trent 900 engines he believed it would have been be caught very quickly in the inspections.
The Qantas problem was the most serious midair incident involving the A380.
The European Aviation Safety Agency has issued orders twice this year advising airlines about extra inspections or repairs needed to deal with potential problems with the Trent 900.
Joyce said such directives are commonplace — an airline could receive 100 per year across a range of planes — and that Qantas was in full compliance with them.
One August order indicated that routine wear could cause the turbine discs — rings the turbine blades are attached to — to come into contact with stationary parts of the engine, resulting in an in-flight shutdown, or even an oil fire.
EASA spokesman Jeremie Teahan said the agency did not believe that problem could lead to a break-up of the type that occurred Thursday.
However, a news media photo of engine debris indicates that a a turbine disc — may have failed, said John Goglia, a former National Transportation Safety Board member and an expert on aircraft maintenance.
A photo posted online by The Australian newspaper shows a turbine disc broken nearly in half, its blades missing. The location of the break appears to indicate that it was the disc that failed, Goglia said. The photo also doesn't show any signs of discoloration on the disc that would indicate overheating, he said.
There are several reasons why by a disc might fail, but they usually involve the material used to make the disc or the manufacturing method, Goglia said. He cautioned that he was looking at one photo, which was not enough information to make a definitive judgment.
____
Joshi reported from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Joan Lowy in Washington, Slobodan Lekic in Brussels and Jane Wardell in London contributed to this report.
11-08-2010 | 02:47 AM
#23
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From: whale wrangler
SYDNEY – Tests have uncovered oil leaks in three Rolls-Royce engines on Qantas' grounded Airbus A380s, the airline's CEO said Monday, as engineers tried to zero in on the cause of an engine failure on board one of its planes last week.
Australia's national carrier grounded its six double-decker A380s, the world's newest and largest airliner, after an engine burst minutes into a flight from Singapore to Sydney last week, scattering debris over Indonesia's Batam island. The plane made a safe emergency landing in Singapore.
Engineers conducted eight hours of extensive checks on each engine over the weekend.
On Monday, CEO Alan Joyce said engineers have discovered oil leaks in the turbine area of three engines on three different A380s.
"That shouldn't be occurring," he told reporters in Sydney.
Because of that, he said, all of the airline's A380s will be grounded for an additional 72 hours.
All three affected engines have been removed from the planes for further testing, he said.
"As a consequence, it's now narrowing our focus on that issue," he said.
Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, the other airlines that fly A380s fitted with Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 engines, also briefly grounded their planes last week but resumed services after completing checks.
The Qantas engineers are working with Rolls-Royce, who manufactured and maintains the engines, as well as Airbus.
Australia's national carrier grounded its six double-decker A380s, the world's newest and largest airliner, after an engine burst minutes into a flight from Singapore to Sydney last week, scattering debris over Indonesia's Batam island. The plane made a safe emergency landing in Singapore.
Engineers conducted eight hours of extensive checks on each engine over the weekend.
On Monday, CEO Alan Joyce said engineers have discovered oil leaks in the turbine area of three engines on three different A380s.
"That shouldn't be occurring," he told reporters in Sydney.
Because of that, he said, all of the airline's A380s will be grounded for an additional 72 hours.
All three affected engines have been removed from the planes for further testing, he said.
"As a consequence, it's now narrowing our focus on that issue," he said.
Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, the other airlines that fly A380s fitted with Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 engines, also briefly grounded their planes last week but resumed services after completing checks.
The Qantas engineers are working with Rolls-Royce, who manufactured and maintains the engines, as well as Airbus.
11-09-2010 | 07:25 AM
#25
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An additional head-scratcher is the loss of control of Engine #1 throughout all this (from Aviation Week):
"The airline has determined that another Trent 900 engine on a different A380 requires replacing, according to a source with knowledge of the inspection process. Damage or abnormal wear was discovered in a similar area to where the uncontained failure occurred in the Singapore incident, the source says.
Also, there is discussion about whether the no. 1 engine on the Singapore aircraft (VH-OQA) needs replacing, according to the source. This engine could not be shut down automatically after landing, possibly due to damage to wiring in the wing caused by debris from the no. 2 engine. The engine eventually shut down due to foam sprayed by emergency services."
"The airline has determined that another Trent 900 engine on a different A380 requires replacing, according to a source with knowledge of the inspection process. Damage or abnormal wear was discovered in a similar area to where the uncontained failure occurred in the Singapore incident, the source says.
Also, there is discussion about whether the no. 1 engine on the Singapore aircraft (VH-OQA) needs replacing, according to the source. This engine could not be shut down automatically after landing, possibly due to damage to wiring in the wing caused by debris from the no. 2 engine. The engine eventually shut down due to foam sprayed by emergency services."
11-09-2010 | 08:31 AM
#26
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Mink, the damage apparent in photos of the wing could be consistent with the loss of control of #1. We had a tanker a few years ago that suffered a bleed manidold failure in the leading edge of the wing. One of the "side effects" was a severed throttle cable. I believe the throttle remained in a cruise thrust setting and the crew ended up shutting the engine down with the fire switch. Not sure how the FADEC system on the Airbus is set up, but a loss of engine control certianly sounds consistent with the wing damage.
11-09-2010 | 10:59 AM
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Tanker,
Understood, but in the situation you describe, the ability to secure the engine remained (via the fire switch). In the QF case, it seems the only way to shut #1 down was via the fire department and lots of foam/water.
Maybe falls in the "Who gives a rat's a$$?" category, but the inability to control the engine, even with the damage to #2 and the wing, seems like something else that may get a closer look when all is said and done.
Or I could be completely wrong...
Understood, but in the situation you describe, the ability to secure the engine remained (via the fire switch). In the QF case, it seems the only way to shut #1 down was via the fire department and lots of foam/water.
Maybe falls in the "Who gives a rat's a$$?" category, but the inability to control the engine, even with the damage to #2 and the wing, seems like something else that may get a closer look when all is said and done.
Or I could be completely wrong...
11-10-2010 | 06:06 PM
#28
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From: U Pay I Fly
There is a very interesting article in "Aviation Weekly" that talks about a similar failure on one of the 787's test engines that suffered an uncontained failure of the hot section. Sending pieces of the engine through the housing. Also on a Rolls. Wonder if this is related? hmmm
11-10-2010 | 11:54 PM
#29
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From: Professional Expat
From a mate a QF......
Here are just SOME of the problems ******had in Singapore last week aboard QF32.... I won't bother mentioning the engine explosion!.... oops... mentioned the engine explosion, sorry.....
* massive fuel leak in the left mid fuel tank (the beast has 11 tanks,
including in the horizontal stabiliser on the tail)
* massive fuel leak in the left inner fuel tank
* a hole on the flap canoe/fairing that you could fit your upper body
through
* the aft gallery in the fuel system failed, preventing many fuel transfer
functions
* fuel jettison had problems due to the previous problem above
* bloody great hole in the upper wing surface
* partial failure of leading edge slats
* partial failure of speed brakes/ground spoilers
* shrapnel damage to the flaps
* TOTAL loss of all hydraulic fluid in the Green System (beast has 2 x
5,000 PSI systems, Green and Yellow)
* manual extension of landing gear
* loss of 1 generator and associated systems
* loss of brake anti-skid system
* unable to shutdown adjacent #1 engine using normal method after landing due to major damage to systems
* unable to shutdown adjacent #1 engine using using the fire switch!!!!!!!! Therefore, no fire protection was available for that engine after the explosion in #2
* ECAM warnings about major fuel imbalance because of fuel leaks on left
side, that were UNABLE to be fixed with cross-feeding
* fuel trapped in Trim Tank (in the tail). Therefore, possible major CofG
out-of-balance condition for landing. Yikes!
* and much more to come..........
********was in the left seat, FO in the right), SO in the 2nd obs seat
(right rear, also with his own Radio Management Panel, so he probably did
most of the coordination with the ground), Capt ******** in the 1st obs seat (middle). He is a Check & Training Captain who was training *** *****to be one also. *****was in the 3rd obs seat (left rear). All 5
guys were FLAT OUT, especially the FO who would have been processing
complicated 'ECAM' messages and procedures that were seemingly never-ending! (52 of them!!)
Here are just SOME of the problems ******had in Singapore last week aboard QF32.... I won't bother mentioning the engine explosion!.... oops... mentioned the engine explosion, sorry.....
* massive fuel leak in the left mid fuel tank (the beast has 11 tanks,
including in the horizontal stabiliser on the tail)
* massive fuel leak in the left inner fuel tank
* a hole on the flap canoe/fairing that you could fit your upper body
through
* the aft gallery in the fuel system failed, preventing many fuel transfer
functions
* fuel jettison had problems due to the previous problem above
* bloody great hole in the upper wing surface
* partial failure of leading edge slats
* partial failure of speed brakes/ground spoilers
* shrapnel damage to the flaps
* TOTAL loss of all hydraulic fluid in the Green System (beast has 2 x
5,000 PSI systems, Green and Yellow)
* manual extension of landing gear
* loss of 1 generator and associated systems
* loss of brake anti-skid system
* unable to shutdown adjacent #1 engine using normal method after landing due to major damage to systems
* unable to shutdown adjacent #1 engine using using the fire switch!!!!!!!! Therefore, no fire protection was available for that engine after the explosion in #2
* ECAM warnings about major fuel imbalance because of fuel leaks on left
side, that were UNABLE to be fixed with cross-feeding
* fuel trapped in Trim Tank (in the tail). Therefore, possible major CofG
out-of-balance condition for landing. Yikes!
* and much more to come..........
********was in the left seat, FO in the right), SO in the 2nd obs seat
(right rear, also with his own Radio Management Panel, so he probably did
most of the coordination with the ground), Capt ******** in the 1st obs seat (middle). He is a Check & Training Captain who was training *** *****to be one also. *****was in the 3rd obs seat (left rear). All 5
guys were FLAT OUT, especially the FO who would have been processing
complicated 'ECAM' messages and procedures that were seemingly never-ending! (52 of them!!)
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