Originally Posted by
Aspen
ABC Television news reported ten engineers were accompanying the replacement RR engine. I presume they would be taking a crate full of tools as well.
It would be interesing to know what the performance penalties really are with an extra engine strapped under the wing. Does the engine spin freely in the breeze? Or, without forced lubrication is that to be avoided?
Can any FTers report what the actual pax load on the flight was?
SYD reported it departed 2 and a half hours late.
How does the defective engine get back to SYD - or is it going straight to scrap metal?
QF advised that J and Y+ pax were allowed to travel on QF73 with the 5th engine attached, however all Y were offloaded.
They said that with the extra weight of the engine, the fact that the aircraft couldn't fly at the regular altitude (They mentioned 30,000ft was the maximum cruising altitude with the 5th engine) and also that the cruising speed was greatly reduced, were the "penalties" of having to carry the 5th engine across the pacific.
Take all that with a grain of salt as I wasn't exactly speaking to on of the engineers...