Brettmcg

Qantas has grounded all A380s pending further investigation together with authorities, Airbus and Rolls Royce.

Three A380 flights tonight (2 LAX and 1 SYD) will be affected first by suspension of A380 flights.

orac

They are giving it a lot of airtime on Skynews - must be a quiet news day

avsfan733

"We are issuing this AD to detect rearward movement of the IP turbine, which could result in loss of disc integrity, an uncontained failure of the engine, and damage to the airplane."

FAA air worthiness directive issued 8/13/10 FYI...
http://www.federalregister.gov/artic...an-engines#p-6

number_6

The same nacelle is used for both the 900 and GP7200 engines on the A380, manufactured by Aircelle and presumably fitted by Airbus so it is their responsibility. The inboard engines have thrust reversers, while the outboard do not (rather interestingly all the A380 engine problems I'm aware of have been on inboard engines).

As I predicted earlier in this thread -- gotta love the howling on FT for all the 744 substitutions. QF might have to bring some out of retirement

Himeno

The last A380 operations (as listed on theqantassource.com):
OQA
31OCT QF93
31OCT QF12
02NOV QF31

OQB
30OCT QF31

OQC
30OCT QF10
01NOV QF9
02NOV QF32

OQD
31OCT QF94
01NOV QF32
03NOV QF93

OQE
01NOV QF11
01NOV QF12
03NOV QF11

OQF
29OCT QF12
02NOV QF11

number_6

RR issued a systems alert Jan 13, 2010 for this same thing; it became an EASA directive on Jan 15 and took the FAA until August 13 to issue the same thing (perhaps low priority for processing as no US registered A380s exist and I don't think the engine is used on any other US registered plane). Fwiw, this is a very normal and minor condition, presumably not related to the QF32 event if QF has implemnted the RR service action faithfully in the past 10 months.

avsfan733

True, however post the RR/EASA there was also the Trent 1000 failure which was being blamed on the IP turbine according to "Industry Source" Like I said...FYI. I Just posted the FAA one because it was easier to find.

I believe there has also been an inflight engine failure on an SQ and an LH A380. No information I have seen on those causes. Not implying anything, simply surprising to me. An Qantas grounding the fleet doesn't seem like the type of thing done as a knee jerk reaction.

Himeno

It was mentioned that they have 2 388s grounded at LAX and 1 in SYD, so for QF12, 94 and 31.
Just checked the flight status on qantas.com. 12 and 94 are listed as normal (no delay or canceled - but both should have left by now). QF31 is showing a 150 min delay.

number_6

Every carrier operating A380 has had at least one engine event; EK, SQ, QF and LH have had serious ones (inflight shutdown for cause) but no obvious pattern. QF has had 2 (coincidental) uncontained engine failures in recent months -- clearly without a causitive connection). My own interest is software and I know that there have been a large number of anomolous software events for the A380 including engine surges and poor throttle response, so maybe the QF32 failure, whatever the cause turns out to be, combines with those much less serious events to suggest a bigger problem. Or maybe it is just QF listening to its insurer.

I would commend QF for taking such firm and fast action in grounding the A380 fleet, despite the cost and disruption. It underscores that some airlines are safer than others -- and QF is still one of the best.

Chalkie

As luck would have it, I was due to make my first 380 flight in F over the next few days. Looks like I will be experiencing F in the 747 instead!

lesenok

Is there any substance to the rumor that Volcanic ash may have played a part in the engine failure ?

Braniff

Poor Qantas - why are they having so much trouble.

lnixon

Can't see how. Volcanic ash is bad for turbine blades, but surely shouldn't cause an uncontained turbine failure.

See e.g. this video of a Trent 900 ingestion test:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSafRuLB0c0

You can throw a *lot* of stuff at a modern engine, and it will just keep running.

Himeno

Nothing reported in the area by Darwin VAAC.

http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDD65295.shtml
The ash from Mount Merapi is too far south to have had any effect on this flight.

number_6

The debris fell on Batam which is very close to SIN airport, so it occured shortly after takeoff ... well before any chance of volcanic ash being encountered.

Looking at the damage and the video of the fire engines after landing, the damage is quite extensive, well beyond the number 2 engine. For example the number 1 engine was foamed and watered by the fire engines, presumably due to lack of response to shutdown commands after landing ... maybe due to damage to control functions in the wing. The landing looks to have been gravity deployed for the landing gear (due to loss of hydraulics from the damage when the high-pressure turbine disk disintegrated). Quite lucky that the pax cabin wasn't penetrated, might have lost quite a few pax otherwise. Amazing how quickly high quality video including the right angles makes it out onto the web these days.....

No wonder QF has the fleet grounded, this looks to be one of the worst engine failure incidents yet (in decades). Wonder when SQ will ground theirs?