A380 Grounded

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bazz

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http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20101104/tuk-engine-drama-plane-lands-safely-6323e80.html

Shame but I guess with any plane/train/car/ship you will have teething problems unless this was bird strike?
 
In an article on a Danish news website (http://nyhederne.tv2.dk/article.php/id-34757801:airbus-a380-kan-flyve-på-tre-motorer.html), former air traffic manager for Copehagen Airport Mr. Hans Christian Stigaard calls it "apparently a high speed compressor stall". But what he bases this on is not revealed.

Regards & all,

Thomas L. Nielsen
Luxembourg
 
From the TV pictures, the back end of the engine was ripped to shreds. Looks like a turbine 'ring' failed. Voice-over said that the housing was supposed to 'contain' such events, but debris damaged the trailing edge of wing. Fortunately, fuel tankage and cabin were not compromised so, IMHO, the containment worked well enough: At least they got to walk away from it...
 
I hope it's not a Trent 900 design/manufacture problem and was due to an extraneous cause (such as ingestion of a foreign object). RR will be under some pressure following the reported Trent 1000 test failure in August.
 
RR could definatley do without that we need all the skilled jobs going here in the UK! :-[
 
here first picture
http://www.spiegel.de/fotostrecke/fotostrecke-61299.html
 
It doesn't seem to be a bird strike , the rear cowling has taken all the damage, the hole in the wing structure indicates a compressor problem, but really we mustn't speculate.
If something went straight through the wing it must have been very near to the tank!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.
I'll try and get some info from Hamburg.
Nigel
 
It's only the Rolls-Royce Trent 900-engined A380s that are concerned, which means three airlines (Qantas, Singapore Airlines and Lufthansa) grounding the type for now. The other two (Emirates and Air France) are not concerned since they are using Engine Alliance engines.
 
Channel 4 news in the UK has a lead story that airlines were warned a month ago about a Trent 900 turbine problem. It goes on to talk about an Airworthiness Directive warning issued by the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) in August (attached):

Wear, beyond Engine Manual limits, has been identified on the abutment faces of the splines on the Trent 900 Intermediate Pressure (IP) shaft rigid coupling on several engines during strip. The shaft to coupling spline interface provides the means of controlling the turbine axial setting and wear through of the splines would permit the IP turbine to move rearwards.

Rearward movement of the IP turbine would enable contact with static turbine components and would result in loss of engine performance with potential for in-flight shut down, oil migration and oil fire below the LP turbine discs prior to sufficient indication resulting in loss of LP turbine disc integrity. Some of these conditions present a potential unsafe condition to the aeroplane.

[...]
Click to expand...
 

Attachments

  • EASA_AD_2010-0008R1_1.pdf
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^^ i was just reading that and was about to post the same.

That doesn't look good for RR I imagine new A380s will have the Alliance engine fitted in future subject to any existing agreements.

Hopefully RR can make modifications and rectify the problem quickly.
 
Here's an update from Quantas on Trent 900 engine issues:

[quote author=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11707459]
The Australian airline, Qantas, has said it has found "slight anomalies" on three Airbus A380 engines and is keeping its fleet of six passenger jets grounded for further checks.

Chief executive Alan Joyce said there "was oil where oil shouldn't be on the engines" of two of the super-jumbos.

Qantas was "trying to check what the cause of that would be", he added.

A similar engine broke apart in flight on Thursday, forcing a Qantas A380 to make an emergency landing in Singapore.

After the incident - the first since the aircraft came into service in 2007 - the airline began checking their Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.

On Monday, Mr Joyce said engineers had found oil in three engines, which was unusual given that they were only two years old.

Alan Joyce Chief executive, Qantas
"These are new engines on new aircraft and they shouldn't have these issues at this stage, so it's given us indication of an area for us to focus into," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

[...]
[/quote]
 
RR issued the following statement on Monday:

[quote author=http://www.rolls-royce.com/civil/news/2010/101108_trent_900_statement.jsp]
Rolls-Royce has made progress in understanding the cause of the engine failure on the Trent 900 powered A380 Qantas flight QF32 on 4 November 2010. It is now clear this incident is specific to the Trent 900 engine.

As a result, a series of checks and inspections has been agreed with Airbus, with operators of the Trent 900 powered A380 and with the airworthiness authorities. These are being progressively completed which is allowing a resumption of operation of aircraft in full compliance with all safety standards. We are working in close cooperation with Airbus, our customers and the authorities, and as always safety remains our highest priority.

We can be certain that the separate Trent 1000 event which occurred in August 2010 on a test bed in Derby is unconnected. This incident happened during a development programme with an engine operating outside normal parameters. We understand the cause and a solution has been implemented.

The Trent 900 incident is the first of its kind to occur on a large civil Rolls-Royce engine since 1994. Since then Rolls-Royce has accumulated 142 million hours of flight on Trent and RB211 engines.

We will provide a further update with our interim management statement on 12 November 2010.
[/quote]
 
News this morning was that a single, easily inspected component was responsible for oil-leak and engine failure, NOT fault of turbine disk which would require extensive disassembly etc...
 
Nik said:
News this morning was that a single, easily inspected component was responsible for oil-leak and engine failure, NOT fault of turbine disk which would require extensive disassembly etc...
Click to expand...

Well they couldn't say any differently, anyway, right? In terms of image, the whole thing has been devastating enough, so I guess even if the disk was at fault, that would be a major setback in terms of communication.
 
Nik said:
From the TV pictures, the back end of the engine was ripped to shreds. Looks like a turbine 'ring' failed. Voice-over said that the housing was supposed to 'contain' such events, but debris damaged the trailing edge of wing. Fortunately, fuel tankage and cabin were not compromised so, IMHO, the containment worked well enough: At least they got to walk away from it...
Click to expand...

According to a report in the HeraldSun, the damage was very extensive including rupturing the port inner and port-middle fuel tanks and knocking out the fuel balancing system so that there was a progressive weight imbalance.

288247-qantas-damage.jpg


Damage to the A380

1 Massive fuel leak in the left mid fuel tank (there are 11 tanks, including in the horizontal stabiliser on the tail)

2 Massive fuel leak in the left inner fuel tank

3 A hole on the flap fairing big enough to climb through

4 The aft gallery in the fuel system failed, preventing many fuel transfer functions

5 Problem jettisoning fuel

6 Massive hole in the upper wing surface

7 Partial failure of leading edge slats

8 Partial failure of speed brakes/ground spoilers

9 Shrapnel damage to the flaps

10 Total loss of all hydraulic fluid in one of the jet's two systems

11 Manual extension of landing gear

12 Loss of one generator and associated systems

13 Loss of brake anti-skid system

14 No.1 engine could not be shut down in the usual way after landing because of major damage to systems

15 No.1 engine could not be shut down using the fire switch, which meant fire extinguishers would not work on that engine

16 ECAM (electronic centralised aircraft monitor) warnings about the major fuel imbalance (because of fuel leaks on left side) could not be fixed with cross-feeding

17 Fuel was trapped in the trim tank (in the tail)creating a balance problem for landing

18 Left wing forward spar penetrated by debris
 
Phew ! That's quite a hit-list !!

At least they got to walk away from it...
 
[quote author=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11817317]
Qantas to resume flying Airbus A380 superjumbos

Qantas says it is to resume flying some of its A380 superjumbos on Saturday, three weeks after an engine explosion forced one of the airline's A380 planes to make an emergency landing.

Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said he was satisfied the aircraft were safe to fly, following extensive checks. Two superjumbos will initially fly the Sydney to London route, he added.

The pilots of a Qantas A380 made a successful emergency landing in Singapore on 4 November. After the incident, the Australian airline grounded all six of its A380s.

Qantas was now working with Airbus and British engine-maker Rolls-Royce to get all six superjumbos back in the air, Mr Joyce said. "We're completely comfortable with the operation of the aircraft," he said.

Rolls-Royce has said the engine failure on 4 November "was confined to a specific component" which led to an oil fire and loss of turbine pressure. Flying debris from the engine then severed cables in the aircraft's wing, the plane's manufacturer Airbus said.

The A380 is the flagship of the European aviation giant's fleet. The result of a long and costly research programme, it made its first commercial flight in 2007. It is the world's largest passenger airliner, a double-decker which can carry up to 800 people - though Qantas A380s are set up to carry about 450.

All 459 passengers and crew on the plane that made the emergency landing three weeks ago were unharmed.
[/quote]
 
Lots of talk and zero information. What are they doing that is supposedly making the plane safe again?
 
Re: A380 un-Grounded

TV news at lunchtime was that Quantas are happy with the 'extensive' engine inspections and are returning the aircraft to service.
 
[quote author=http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11895106]
Qantas begins legal action against Rolls-Royce

Qantas has begun legal action against the engine supplier Rolls-Royce following the explosion of an engine on one of the airline's Airbus A380s. It said the legal action was back-up in case a settlement could not be reached.

Earlier, Australian air safety authorities said they had identified a serious manufacturing fault with some of Rolls-Royce's Trent 900 engines. Rolls-Royce said the Australian findings were "consistent with what we have said before".

Qantas has resumed flying some of its A380 planes after grounding the fleet for safety checks following the incident on 4 November.

The carrier said its legal action allowed it "to keep all options available to the company to recover losses, as a result of the grounding of the A380 fleet and the operational constraints currently imposed on A380 services".

Air safety investigators in Australia said they had identified a serious manufacturing fault with some engines fitted to Airbus A380 passenger jets. A misaligned component of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine used on a Qantas A380 which exploded last month thinned the wall of an oil pipe. This caused "fatigue cracking", which prompted leakage and ultimately a fire.

Rolls-Royce said in a statement: "We have instituted a regime of inspection, maintenance and removal which has assured safe operation. This programme has been agreed in collaboration with Airbus, our airline customers and the regulators."

The investigation into the engine explosion was carried out by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). It said: "This condition could lead to an elevated risk of fatigue crack initiation and growth, oil leakage and potential catastrophic engine failure from a resulting oil fire." The ATSB added that the problem was "understood to be related to the manufacturing process". And it urged Rolls-Royce to "address the safety issue and take actions necessary to ensure the safety of flight operations in transport aircraft equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent 900 series engines".

[...]
[/quote]

At least 'a serious manufacturing fault' (if true) is better than if it were 'a serious design fault' ...
 
Thanks for the link, it makes very interesting reading.

A couple of interesting snippets in terms of actions being taken:

On 1 December 2010, Rolls-Royce plc issued NMSB 72-G595 that required the specialised examination, measurement and reporting of the HP/IP bearing structure stub pipe counter-bore geometry. A 20-flight cycle compliance limitation was specified for the examination.

[...]

On 2 December 2010, EASA issued Major Change Approval 10032805 that approved a Rolls-Royce plc change to the engine electronic control system software. That change incorporated an additional defence against engine intermediate pressure turbine disc overspeed events.
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the link!
What on Earth is going on there? Is that counterbore supposed to be symmetrical? If so, how can such a massive level manufacturing error pass through? This must be some result of many very unlikely compounded errors, or then a big cultural issue at Rolls-Royce.
 
Having read the discussion on Slashdot, it's unlikely that there are real problems.

Some of the more insightful posts:
Airbus have issued an inspection notice saying it's a materials issue, and that airlines should inspect at an aircrafts 4 year inspection interval. They would not do so, and would be overruled by the European safety body EASA, if they thought otherwise.
This has been discussed to death on aviation industry forums, and the general consensus is it's a non-issue - the calls for grounding are being headed by an industry union, not a regulatory body.
Every aircraft has cracks in it, even brand new ones - in this case, it's in a non-critical location and is non-load bearing. A check at the 4 year point is adequate for this type of discovery.
Click to expand...
... its a continuation of union action against Qantas that precipitated the airline voluntarily grounding its entire fleet in October in order to force arbitration in the disputes. The maintenance engineering union is ceasing on any little thing it can to show that maintenance by "other" parties is deficient. They use the same scare tactic equally against Boeing, Airbus and Bombardier (the Q fleet), its just the last few high profile incidents have been Airbus. They rely on ignorance, some of which is on display in this comment stream and Australian media, about what constitutes a threat to safety or a maintenance issue.
Click to expand...
 

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