Qantas Engine Explodes Mid Air

[Angela 0077]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/7954137/qantas-engine-explodes-mid-air

Geez these guys on this pplane were lucky to come out alive.
It was lucky they were lot to far away so they could land.
I have noticed that alot of our planes have been having problems lately.
A few years ago our planes were always fixed in Australia but now they are fixed in Singapore or some other country.

Anyway theses people came out of this okay but it would have been scary it makes you feel that maybe air travel is not a good option anymore.
I hope you will all have look at the article and clip

 

[Miss Chicken]

I think that everyone was probably saved by the skill of the pilots, I don't think luck has anything to do with it.

 

[ThunderAeroI]

Was "Famous" on this flight as well?

 

[Lindley]

Fortunately, a large part of multi-engine training is about how to make do with only some of those engines.

It was lucky they were lot to far away so they could land.

Actually, they chose not to land immediately in order to burn off some fuel. Big jets regularly take off with more fuel than they would be safe to land with, since it's anticipated they'll burn it in flight.

 

[Marc]

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/7954137/qantas-engine-explodes-mid-air

Geez these guys on this pplane were lucky to come out alive.
It was lucky they were lot to far away so they could land.
I have noticed that alot of our planes have been having problems lately.
A few years ago our planes were always fixed in Australia but now they are fixed in Singapore or some other country.

Anyway theses people came out of this okay but it would have been scary it makes you feel that maybe air travel is not a good option anymore.
I hope you will all have look at the article and clip

The engine did not explode.

and I wouldn't ready the article - ninemsn and good journalism don't go together and reporting on aviation matters just highlights their ignorance.

It suffered an uncontained failure which means that something left the engine at high speed (most likely a turbine blade) and wasn't contained within the nacelle.

They returned to San Fransico 80 mins later (20 minutes of that would of been flight time because they were 20mins out when the failure occurred) so 60mins was spent dumping fuel (and possibly waiting for a landing slot).

http://www.avherald.com/h?article=4305467b&opt=0

#4 engine (RB211, outer right hand) suffered an uncontained failure ripping a large hole into the outer engine cowling approximately abeam the turbine rotors.

 

[Mr. B]

Good to hear everything worked out... it would be a shame if their safety record was tarnished.

I'll be curious to see if there will be ancillary repercussions to this as jet engines are designed to contain detached fins.

 

[sojourner]

^It definitely will for all the other planes of that make.

 

[Zero Kelvin]

^It definitely will for all the other planes of that make.

Writing as a layperson, I assume not as it was the engine (reportedly a Rolls-Royce RB211 of unspecified series) that failed. From the picture of the damage, I assume that a high-temperature single-crystal turbine blade failed. I know that the housings can withstand fan blade failure, but I don't know about how they protect against turbine blade failure.

 

[Marc]

Good to hear everything worked out... it would be a shame if their safety record was tarnished.

I'll be curious to see if there will be ancillary repercussions to this as jet engines are designed to contain detached fins.

Ever see any of the programs on the development of the A380? They showed the testig of the engine checking for containment in the event of a rotor blade detaching?

There's a bang, a flash and a multi-million dollar engine is destroyed (and for the record the test was passed) and generally not something you want to see.

As to QANTAS's saftey record luck has been a big part of it as has their insurance. QF1 (Sydney -> London) slid off the runway in Bangkok some years back. A $100million dollars worth of damange was done but the aircraft was repaired and returned to service to keep QANTAS's no hull loss record intact though normally that sort of damage would the aircraft written off, stripped out and scrapped (the nose wheel was rammed up in the fuselage, damage to two engines and the main gear). Company policy restricting the use of reverse thrust (idle reverse thrust on landing only) and flaps to 25 not 30 played a role.

 

[Canadave]

^It definitely will for all the other planes of that make.

Writing as a layperson, I assume not as it was the engine (reportedly a Rolls-Royce RB211 of unspecified series) that failed. From the picture of the damage, I assume that a high-temperature single-crystal turbine blade failed. I know that the housings can withstand fan blade failure, but I don't know about how they protect against turbine blade failure.

Yeah, if anything, it'll be up to Rolls-Royce to fix the problem. The plane is a 747-400 which is (I believe) the most popular long-range jetliner in the world. Over 700 of 'em have been built, and it's likely that any major mechanical problems have long-since been worked out.

 

[Sky]

I don't think the situation was quite as dramatic as it seems from the news articles. This past spring, I was on a plane when one of the two engines caught fire and we had to return to the airport and land with one engine (after dumping fuel). It was very controlled and we did not seem to be in any danger. (Even though, as a fearful flyer, I almost peed my pants.) From what I hear, these things happen from time to time and usually it's ok because the pilots are trained to land the plane with one engine.

 

[Guartho]

Dad lost an engine once. He only had two too. I don't want to hear bitching from these wusses with 75% of their engines running fine.

ETA: Ha! Just checked with Dad to make sure I'm remembering secondhand stories correctly: I guess he lost 1 of 2 engines twice, both on ascent. Once in an MD-80, and once in a 757.

I'm sure you all know that my above joke is just that, but Dad also pointed out that a turbine blade busting out through the nacelle cowling is some serious shit. A passenger was killed on a Delta flight once when that happened and the blade came in through the fuselage and went through their head.

 

[Marc]

Dad lost an engine once. He only had two too. I don't want to hear bitching from these wusses with 75% of their engines running fine.

ETA: Ha! Just checked with Dad to make sure I'm remembering secondhand stories correctly: I guess he lost 1 of 2 engines twice, both on ascent. Once in an MD-80, and once in a 757.

I'm sure you all know that my above joke is just that, but Dad also pointed out that a turbine blade busting out through the nacelle cowling is some serious shit. A passenger was killed on a Delta flight once when that happened and the blade came in through the fuselage and went through their head.

depending on how long ago you probably find the details at www.avherald.com

 

[Sky]

I'm sure you all know that my above joke is just that, but Dad also pointed out that a turbine blade busting out through the nacelle cowling is some serious shit. A passenger was killed on a Delta flight once when that happened and the blade came in through the fuselage and went through their head.

That does sound serious.

 

[T'Grinch]

Brr....flying is frightening enough. I'd probably faint for the first time in my life if I saw that view that those passengers saw out their window.

 

[enlisted person]

I think that everyone was probably saved by the skill of the pilots, I don't think luck has anything to do with it.

Was it not bad luck that then engine blew up in the first place?

 

[Miss Chicken]

I don't think it was so much 'bad luck' as a fault in the engine, maybe as a result of something going wrong with the maintenance of the plane.

 

[enlisted person]

How much fuel gets dumped every year? I mean we get onto BP for an accidental leak in the ocean and how many gallons of Kerosene get dumped into the air?

 

[enlisted person]

I don't think it was so much 'bad luck' as a fault in the engine, maybe as a result of something going wrong with the maintenance of the plane.

Ha, you are a very practical person Miss Chicken, it makes me laugh. I would still rather be lucky when on an airplane

 

[Canadave]

How much fuel gets dumped every year? I mean we get onto BP for an accidental leak in the ocean and how many gallons of Kerosene get dumped into the air?

In this case, there was no dump, from the sounds of things. Just an extra 60 minutes of flying to burn off the needed fuel.

And when a fuel dump is done, it's done at an altitude where the fuel will dissipate long before it can land anywhere in any concentration. Add in the fact that it's only done in emergencies, and that it has to be pretty soon after a plane takes off and then requires an immediate landing again. So it's really not all that common of an incident.