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Faulty design, build may be behind Qantas blowout
AP, Nov 6, 2010, 12.50am
SYDNEY: Qantas believes the engine that blew apart on the world's largest jetliner was probably designed or built incorrectly, the chief of the Australian airline said Friday, focusing attention on the engine's manufacturer, Rolls-Royce.
Hours after CEO Alan Joyce spoke, another Qantas plane with Rolls-Royce engines suffered an engine problem and turned back to Singapore's airport shortly after it took off for Sydney. Qantas said the problem with the smaller Boeing 747 was not serious and the flight was scheduled to take off again, 3 hours late.
A passenger described a frightening scene aboard the Boeing, saying there was "a loud bang and a jet of fire from the back of the engine" two or three minutes after takeoff.
"We all realized that it was clear that there was a problem. The problem itself did not last very long," Andrew Jenkins, a 43-year-old Australian banker who said he used to fly a two-seater plane, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
On Thursday, one of Qantas' six Airbus A380s suffered a massive engine failure in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines about four minutes into a flight to Sydney and shed pieces of metal over Indonesia before returning to make a safe emergency landing at Singapore's airport.
"We believe this is probably most likely a material failure or some type of design issue," Joyce told a news conference in Sydney. "We don't believe this is related to maintenance in any way."
He said the engines had been maintained by Rolls-Royce since they were installed.
Maintenance failures are very rare in engines as new as the one that failed, which was built two years ago, he said. And a foreign object would like have caused visible damage to the outside cover of the engine or the huge fan or turbine at the front of the engine.
He said he thought it was most likely that the Qantas flight was hit by a failure in the area that contains the turbine section and other rotating parts.
"This runs at extremely high temperatures and at very high, even supersonic, speeds. In that environment any minute manufacturing defect or a fault in the metallurgy such as microscopic cracks can lead to a failure," he said.
Rolls-Royce Group PLC did not comment on Friday's developments. Around a billion dollars was wiped off its market value as the company's share price slid for the second day, ending the day over 5 percent lower.
The double-decker A380 is the world's largest and newest airliner, tall as a seven-story building and capable of carrying 853 passengers, although most airlines use them to hold about 500 passengers. Its roomy first and business classes are seen as a major appeal for passengers.
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AP, Nov 6, 2010, 12.50am
SYDNEY: Qantas believes the engine that blew apart on the world's largest jetliner was probably designed or built incorrectly, the chief of the Australian airline said Friday, focusing attention on the engine's manufacturer, Rolls-Royce.
Hours after CEO Alan Joyce spoke, another Qantas plane with Rolls-Royce engines suffered an engine problem and turned back to Singapore's airport shortly after it took off for Sydney. Qantas said the problem with the smaller Boeing 747 was not serious and the flight was scheduled to take off again, 3 hours late.
A passenger described a frightening scene aboard the Boeing, saying there was "a loud bang and a jet of fire from the back of the engine" two or three minutes after takeoff.
"We all realized that it was clear that there was a problem. The problem itself did not last very long," Andrew Jenkins, a 43-year-old Australian banker who said he used to fly a two-seater plane, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
On Thursday, one of Qantas' six Airbus A380s suffered a massive engine failure in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines about four minutes into a flight to Sydney and shed pieces of metal over Indonesia before returning to make a safe emergency landing at Singapore's airport.
"We believe this is probably most likely a material failure or some type of design issue," Joyce told a news conference in Sydney. "We don't believe this is related to maintenance in any way."
He said the engines had been maintained by Rolls-Royce since they were installed.
Maintenance failures are very rare in engines as new as the one that failed, which was built two years ago, he said. And a foreign object would like have caused visible damage to the outside cover of the engine or the huge fan or turbine at the front of the engine.
He said he thought it was most likely that the Qantas flight was hit by a failure in the area that contains the turbine section and other rotating parts.
"This runs at extremely high temperatures and at very high, even supersonic, speeds. In that environment any minute manufacturing defect or a fault in the metallurgy such as microscopic cracks can lead to a failure," he said.
Rolls-Royce Group PLC did not comment on Friday's developments. Around a billion dollars was wiped off its market value as the company's share price slid for the second day, ending the day over 5 percent lower.
The double-decker A380 is the world's largest and newest airliner, tall as a seven-story building and capable of carrying 853 passengers, although most airlines use them to hold about 500 passengers. Its roomy first and business classes are seen as a major appeal for passengers.
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