Qantas Grounds A380 fleet
11-08-2010, 02:47 AM
#22
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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
#24
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Posts: 945
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
#25
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Posts: 295
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
#26
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Joined APC: Oct 2006
Posts: 945
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
#27
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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
#28
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Joined APC: Feb 2008
Position: Professional Expat
Posts: 326
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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