Misplaced Pages

Qantas Flight 32

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by L.tak (talk | contribs) at 19:03, 8 November 2010 (links). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 19:03, 8 November 2010 by L.tak (talk | contribs) (links)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
An editor has nominated this article for deletion.
You are welcome to participate in the deletion discussion, which will decide whether or not to retain it.Feel free to improve the article, but do not remove this notice before the discussion is closed. For more information, see the guide to deletion.
Find sources: "Qantas Flight 32" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR%5B%5BWikipedia%3AArticles+for+deletion%2FQantas+Flight+32%5D%5DAFD
Qantas Flight 32
Airbus 380 VH-OQA, the plane involved in the incident
Incident
SummaryUncontained engine failure
Aircraft
Aircraft typeAirbus A380
Aircraft nameNancy Bird Walton
OperatorQantas
RegistrationVH-OQA
Flight originLondon Heathrow Airport
StopoverSingapore Changi Airport
DestinationSydney Airport
Passengers440
Crew26
Fatalities0
Injuries2 (on the ground)
Survivors466 (all)

Qantas Flight 32 (QF32) was a scheduled Airbus A380 flight from London Heathrow Airport to Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport via Singapore Changi Airport on 4 November 2010.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was an Airbus A380, registration number VH-OQA, serial number 014. Delivered in September 2008, the aircraft had four Trent 972 engines manufactured by Rolls-Royce. The aircraft (named Nancy Bird Walton in honour of the Australian aviation pioneer) was the first A380 delivered to Qantas.

Incident

Path of QF32 with approximate location of incident

The aircraft had a serious mid flight incident at 10:01 am Singapore Standard Time (02:01 UTC), caused by an uncontained failure of the port inboard (No.2) engine, while en route over Batam Island, Indonesia. The cause of the failure is not yet known. Engineers have suggested that the intermediate pressure turbine disc (which is a safety-critical part) in the inner left No. 2 engine failed, causing the explosion that destroyed part of the engine casing. The wing was punctured, disabling the hydraulic landing flaps and the controls for the outer left No.1 engine as well. Qantas later confirmed that the turbine disk was missing from the engine.

The plane circled and dumped fuel for over an hour. It then returned to Singapore Changi Airport, landing safely at 11:45 am Singapore time. As a result of the aircraft landing at higher speed than normal, four tyres were blown in the process. Upon landing, the crew were unable to shut down the No.1 engine, which had to be doused by emergency crews until flameout.

There were no injuries reported among the 433 passengers and 26 crew on board the plane. According to Indonesian authorities, two people, a teacher and student, suffered minor injuries when debris fell onto the roof of a school. Debris also fell on houses, causing structural damage, and on a car.

It was like a shotgun going off, like a big loud gun...Part of the skin had peeled off and we could see the foam underneath and heaps of broken wires poking out.

— Tyler Wooster, 16, one of the 433 passengers onboard

Pilot and crew

The pilot of the plane, Captain Richard de Crespigny, has been credited in the media as "having guided a heavily damaged double-decker jet to the safety of Singapore Airport and averting what could have been a catastrophe". He has 35 years of flying experience and was one of the first two Qantas pilots to fly the Airbus A380. Passengers have noted his calm and reassuring tone in announcements, which helped to avoid unnecessary panic.

Reaction

Stock markets

Immediately after the incident, shares in the engines manufacturer, London Stock Exchange listed Rolls-Royce plc, fell 5.5% to 618.5 pence, their sharpest fall in 18 months. This is the lowest price since mid September 2010. The fall in the share price has been directly attributed to this incident. Shares in the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), which owns Airbus, also fell.

By mid-morning on 8 November 2010, Rolls-Royce shares had fallen by more than 10% since the incident on the previous Thursday.

Grounding of aircraft and replacement of engines

Both Qantas and Singapore Airlines, which uses the same Rolls Royce engine in its A380 aircraft, temporarily grounded their A380 fleets after the incident and performed further inspections. Singapore Airlines resumed operations the following day. Investigation of all four other operational Qantas A380s revealed concerns with two engines. Those engines will be replaced after which operation is expected to be resumed. The problems with one of these engines "could have potentially led to a repeat of Thursday's incident on QF32". On 8 November 2010 the CEO of Qantas stated that the A380 fleet would remain grounded because new issues in the engines appeared. Singapore Airlines, after inspecting the engines of its A380s, said that it did not find any issues with them.

Reactions regarding significance

Tom Ballantyne, a writer on Orient Aviation Magazine, described the incident as "certainly the most serious incident that the A380 has experienced since it entered operations", and concerns have been voiced that this incident may be due to a "major problem", rather than being maintenance-related. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce stated on 5 November that Qantas considered the likely cause "some kind of material failure or a design issue".

The damage, described in the Sydney Morning Herald as "potentially life-threatening and extremely rare", caused aircraft engineer Peter Marosszeky, from the University of New South Wales to state that "I rarely ever see a failure like this on any engine", while Paul Cousins, the federal president of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association stated that "fewer than 5% of engine failures involved debris leaving the casing of the engine", as was the case in this incident.

Operational history

This incident was the third Airbus A380 incident involving Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. In September 2009, an engine malfunctioned on a Singapore Airlines flight from Paris to the Far East, and a Tokyo-Frankfurt Lufthansa flight in August 2010 had engine trouble which resulted in one engine being shut down due to low oil pressure. No such incidents have been reported for those Airbus A380s that are powered by Engine Alliance engines (made by GE Aircraft Engines and Pratt & Whitney as a joint venture) and operated by Emirates and Air France.

An airworthiness directive was issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency on 4 August that required inspection of certain aspects of the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine.

References

  1. ^ "Aviation Safety Investigation Report 089 – Qantas Airbus A380 - Inflight engine shut down, Indonesia". Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Department of Transport and Regional Services, Government of Australia. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  2. "Aircraft registration". Civil Aviation Safety Authority.
  3. "VH-OQA details". .airport-data.
  4. "Qantas A380 specifications". Qantas. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  5. ^ "Qantas A380 likely lost engine disk". Flightglobal. 6 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  6. "Disc failure almost brought superjumbo down". The Australian. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  7. ^ "Design fault may have caused Qantas jet drama". news.com.au. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  8. O'Sullivan, Matt (4 November 2010). "Qantas jet engine fails: witnesses tell of hearing explosion". The Age. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  9. ^ "Statement on QF32 Air Return to Singapore - Aircraft has Landed Safely". Qantas Airways Limited. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  10. ^ Horton, Will (6 November 2010). "Qantas to change engines on two A380s". Flightglobal.com. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  11. "Qantas grounds A380s after engine incident". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  12. "Family's terror as debris from exploding Qantas superjumbo engine tears 6ft hole in wall of family home". Daily Mail. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  13. Heasley, Andrew (5 November 2010). "Explosion grounds Qantas Airbus fleet". The Age. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  14. "White-knuckle ride, then smooth landing". The Age. 5/11/10. Retrieved 6 November 2010. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. Andrew Carswell; Cindy Wockner (6 November 2010). "Qantas 'not worried' about 747 fleet after second mid-air incident in two days". The Advertiser. Retrieved 6 November 2010.
  16. Barclay Crawford, Brenden Hills and Simon Kearney (7 November 2010). "Richard de Crespigny, Qantas's Captain Marvel". Herald Sun. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
  17. ^ "Rolls Falls Most in a Year After Engine Failure Grounds A380s". Bloomberg. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  18. ^ Madslien, Jorn (4 November 2010). "Qantas emergency points spotlight at Airbus and Rolls-Royce". BBC News. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  19. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/11709179
  20. "Qantas grounds A380s after Singapore emergency landing". BBC News. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  21. ^ "Delays to A380 flights". Singapore Airlines. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  22. CNN Wire Staff. "Qantas' A380 fleet to remain grounded, CEO says." CNN. November 7, 2010. Retrieved on November 7, 2010.
  23. "Singapore Air says no issue with its A380 engines." Reuters. Monday 8 November 2010. 8 November 2010.
  24. ^ "Design fault 'may have caused A380 scare' - Qantas". BBC News. 5 November 2010. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  25. Cook, Aaron (5 November 2010). "Damage rare but can be catastrophic, say engineers". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
  26. "Qantas A380 Airbus emergency is third scare for superjumbo". The Daily Telegraph. 4 November 2010. Retrieved 4 November 2010.

External links

{{{inline}}}

Aviation accidents and incidents in 2010 (2010)
Jan 2 Danube Wings Flight 8230Jan 24 Taban Air Flight 6437Jan 25 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409Feb 18 Austin suicide attackMar 22 Aviastar-TU Flight 1906Apr 7 United Airlines Flight 663Apr 10 Smolensk air disasterApr 13 Cathay Pacific Flight 780Apr 13 Merpati Nusantara Flight 836Apr 13 AeroUnion Flight 302May 12 Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771May 17 Pamir Airways Flight 112May 22 Air India Express Flight 812Jun 19 Air Service Berlin Douglas C-47Jun 20 Aéro-Service C-212 crashJul 26 Israeli Air Force CH-53 crashJul 27 Lufthansa Cargo Flight 8460Jul 28 Airblue Flight 202Jul 28 Alaska USAF C-17 crashJul 31 Conair CV-580 crashAug 3 Katekavia Flight 9357Aug 9 Alaskan DHC-3 Turbo OtterAug 16 AIRES Flight 8250Aug 24 Agni Air Flight 101Aug 24 Henan Airlines Flight 8387Aug 25 Filair Let L-410 crashSep 3 UPS Airlines Flight 6Sep 4 Fox Glacier FU-24 crashSep 7 Alrosa Flight 514Sep 13 Conviasa Flight 2350Oct 6 Tajik National Guard Mil Mi-8Oct 12 Transafrik International Flight 662Oct 29 Transatlantic aircraft bomb plotNov 4 Qantas Flight 32Nov 4 Aero Caribbean Flight 883Nov 5 JS Air Flight 201Nov 11 Tarco Air An-24 crashNov 28 Sun Way Flight 4412Dec 4 Dagestan Airlines Flight 372Dec 15 Tara Air Twin Otter crash
2009   ◄    ►   2011
Categories: