DISTRESSED passengers told how they survived a mid-air emergency last night when an Emirates A380's engine exploded at 10,000 feet and forced it to turn back for an emergency landing.
About 20 minutes after leaving Sydney, Emirates flight EK413 experienced an "engine fault'' en route to Dubai.
"I saw a flash,'' John Fothergill, 49, from Auckland, said. "I thought it could have been lightening but then we saw flames come out of the engine. The whole interior of the A380 lit up.
airportugal310 From United States of America, joined Apr 2004, 3070 posts, RR: 2 Reply 1, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 2677 times:
EPA001 From Netherlands, joined Sep 2006, 3594 posts, RR: 36 Reply 4, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 12 hours ago) and read 2628 times:
Quoting Stitch (Reply 5): I suggest you direct your fury at Leigh van den Broeke and The Australian, since they are the ones responsible for the language.
As always news media search for sensational stories, especially when incidents in aviation are the subject. It was just an engine shutdown. Not good, but it happens lots of times on all types of airliners.
KC135TopBoom From United States of America, joined Jan 2005, 11711 posts, RR: 52 Reply 5, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2635 times:
o what really happened here? The engine exploded, or it did not. The engine was shut down (by the crew, not an explosion), or it was not. This incident is not the same as the QF A-380 engine incident of a few years ago. That engine was a RR Trent-900, not a GP-7270.
DocLightning From United States of America, joined Nov 2005, 16824 posts, RR: 57 Reply 8, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2634 times:
Quoting EPA001 (Reply 6): As always news media search for sensational stories, especially when incidents in aviation are the subject. It was just an engine shutdown. Not good, but it happens lots of times on all types of airliners.
When it's your airplane and fire is coming out of an engine, it's probably a bit frightening.
There is no published cause of the IFSD. For all we know, it could have been an uncontained failure or a catastrophic failure that was contained. From the description, the entire aircraft shook with the event and there were flames from the nacelle. That suggests that this wasn't a simple IFSD.
Being too quick to dismiss an incident as "sensationalism" is just as bad as that very same sensationalism.
I remember when the QF 744 had the cargo bay explosion that punched a hole in the side of the aircraft and people called it "sensationalism" and just a "simple pressure loss." Actually, it was a major incident and it was just luck that prevented any loss of life. Had some of the shrapnel from that explosion taken a path just a few inches different, it would have gone right through a few bodies before departing the aircraft.
Let's wait until we have some facts before dismissing this as so much sensationalism.
B777LRF From Luxembourg, joined Nov 2008, 1007 posts, RR: 3 Reply 9, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2636 times:
What's really strange is that it's the 3rd IFSD EK has suffered in 4 days. One is rare, two an anomoly but three in 4 days? That's very, very strange indeed. Bet anyone who wants any reasonable amount those three incidents had nothing in common though.
From receips and radials over straight pipes to big fans - been there, done that, got the hearing defects to prove
EPA001 From Netherlands, joined Sep 2006, 3594 posts, RR: 36 Reply 10, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2627 times:
Quoting DocLightning (Reply 10): Let's wait until we have some facts before dismissing this as so much sensationalism.
You are correct. Maybe I was a bit too quick with my qualification of the incident, but most incidents get blown (way) out of proportion. So I assumed this was the same thing. In time we will know more.
EagleBoy From Niue, joined Dec 2009, 1619 posts, RR: 2 Reply 12, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 11 hours ago) and read 2622 times:
Quoting KC135TopBoom (Reply 7): o what really happened here? The engine exploded, or it did not.
Quoting EK413 (Reply 9): The media always track down passengers which over react during these situations... Talk about being blown out of proportion!
From AVHerald report: "........climbing out of Sydney's runway 34L when upon contacting departure the crew declared PAN reporting they needed to shut the #3 engine (GP7270, inboard right hand) down and requested to stop climb at FL110 and continue on planned track until decision was made whether to return or continue, controller indicating the aircraft was needed higher to not leave controlled air space, the aircraft subsequently climbed to FL160 and FL190. The crew subsequently decided to return to Sydney, dumped fuel and landed safely on runway 34L about 90 minutes after departure......"
The fact that the flight crew considered continuing would lead me to guess that it was a relatively benign engine shutdown. (Emphasis on relatively, even routine aviation incidents can be frightening for pax) It could have been an engine flameout, hence the report from pax of 'flames'.
As for Mr.Fothergill....I wonder how many pax were interviewed until the reporter got the quote they were looking for?
rfields5421 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 6150 posts, RR: 25 Reply 13, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 10 hours ago) and read 2610 times:
This quote is from the article in the original post - not the words of the person originating the thred.
Quoting eoinnz (Thread starter): DISTRESSED passengers told how they survived a mid-air emergency last night when an Emirates A380's engine exploded at 10,000 feet and forced it to turn back for an emergency landing.
About 20 minutes after leaving Sydney, Emirates flight EK413 experienced an "engine fault'' en route to Dubai.
20 minutes after takeoff, 10,000 ft.
Geez. I knew it was a big plane, but I can climb better than than in a C-182.
And in other words it's was simply an engine shut down... With the crew considering to continue it certainly wasn't as serious... As for the reporter guaranteed they located the passenger which seemed shaken not stirred...
I guess the aircraft will now ferry off to DXB with nil pax...?
Quoting EPA001 (Reply 16): Probably ATC did not let them climb out any higher then that altitude.
From the AVHerald piece:
"...crew declared PAN reporting they needed to shut the #3 engine (GP7270, inboard right hand) down and requested to stop climb at FL110 and continue on planned track until decision was made whether to return or continue,..."
It was definetely A6-EDA,Was listening to it on a the scanner and tracking it on flight radar,was rather interesting.
Probably a good thing it happened to land after the curfew as SYD gets quite busy just before the curfew comes into effect.
rfields5421 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 6150 posts, RR: 25 Reply 22, posted (6 months 1 week 6 days 8 hours ago) and read 2612 times:
Quoting EPA001 (Reply 16): Probably ATC did not let them climb out any higher then that altitude.
I was being sarcastic about the media report. The AVHerald article states the PAN was declared upon contacting departure controllers - which would have been well under 20 minutes after takeoff. Probably two or three at most.
a. a drama queen
b. planning a lawsuit
c. planning to sell an air disaster movie scenario
d. desperate for attention
e. all of the above
I hope you understand that not everyone is an aviation geek!? For someone who has little to no knowledge of engine dynamics etc hearing load bangs, shuddering and flames would be very frightening.
[Edited 2012-11-11 16:31:27]
25 AirbusA6: Emirates announce a major tie up with Qantas. A few weeks later they suffer an engine 'blow up', the curse of Qantas strikes again [Edited 2012-11-11
26 EK413: I don't think the aircraft is going anywhere soon... The aircraft is parked on the handstand next to The Grand Parade... EK413 over and out... EK413
27 lightsaber: Do we have more information? I'm very curious. Could be, but a compressor stall at altitude is odd. Or do I not have the timeline correct? Agreed. Hmm
28 qf002: It's just as well they're now cosy with QF -- they now have access to a big A380 maintenance base here, rather than facing a hostile enemy who wants
29 RickNRoll: Does QANTAS do any of that maintenance here any more? IIRC, as much as possible has been moved off overseas. According to another story, it was more a
30 RyanairGuru: Quote from John Fothergill in the linked article: "I was in the same incident in 1988 when I was travelling on Alitalia, (so) it was (a) flash back to
31 idlewildchild: Not for nothing, if I'm sitting on A-380 and there's fire coming from the engine and I know QF had the A380 incident that was almost catastrophic, I g
32 RyanairGuru: Yes. All line maintenance is done at SYD. It is only D (and maybe C) Checks that have been outsourced.
33 sunrisevalley: An indirect question to all this. Is there a central registry that records inflight engine shutdowns and is it's database accessible to all?
34 spacecadet: Well, no, not necessarily. Did you read the avherald report? (Which itself is certainly not complete.) was climbing out of Sydney's runway 34L when u
35 qf002: They do everything except D checks, which are done at FRA by LH. That said, the QF engineers probably aren't too familiar with the GP7200.
36 BoeingVista: They also had a 777 engine IFSD near Mumbai this week and an A330 engine detonation in Zambia last week... So thats 4 engine issues in 10 days on a n
37 skygirl1990: I must say I rather enjoy Emirates summation of the incident - "an engine fault"
38 zeke: Engines are supposed to have a fire in them, that is how they "burn" fuel. Most people do not realize that fire extinguishes in aircraft engines do n
39 imiakhtar: Since the new hangars opened earlier this year, I believe QF A380 C checks will take place at the LH Technik station in MNL. The A380s have been sent
40 lightsaber: Huh... That is far too many to be a coincidence. Is it maintenance, metal in DXB's jet fuel, or ???. It is time to throw together a tiger team and fi
41 qf002: Sorry, my bad. I had it in my head that none of the aircraft have gone anywhere for maintenance except FRA, and it didn't occur to me that they'd be
42 VC10er: I who know nothing would have assumed that one of 4 engines would have created too much drag for a whole flight to Dubai?
43 EK413: There is a EK Skycargo freighter heading to Sydney tonight more than likely with a replacement power plant onboard... EK413
44 ZKOKQ: whats the flight number on the cargo flight?
45 EPA001: Praying wont help there. You have to rely on the crew and their skills and professionalism. But anyway, EK uses completely different engines on their
46 EagleBoy: I always smile when I hear pax comments about cabin crew panicking. I have seen firsthand how pax thought that crew rapidly preparing a cabin for a p
47 maxter: Any idea what a reasonable expectation would be for MTBF's for engines overall in a fleet their size?
48 idlewildchild: Seems folks are having a hard time understanding the simplicity of my position. When something goes wrong with an engine on an airplane, for the non-p
49 EK413: The flight number was UAE9920 and arrived from SIN at 18:35... EK413[Edited 2012-11-12 03:48:25]
50 flykal: Well said idlewildchild...very easy to be an 'armchair' passenger and there's plenty of them around. Entirely different story if you are onboard - avi
51 vio: Interesting... In regards to some comments here, some of our A.net colleagues seem to be quite the armchair pilots, mechanics and passengers. I will t
52 bhill: Zeke, the key phrase is IN the engine....not coming out the front back OR sides.....
53 SInGAPORE_AIR: Dow Jones is reporting Tim Clark has three to four engines in its 27-strong A380 fleet were faulty and needed to be fixed or replaced. The faulty engi
54 BA777ER236: I totally agree with the above sentiments. It is very easy for professionals, let alone 'armchair' experts to be dismissive of the genuine anxieties
55 rcair1: There is the old joke about praying to Buddha when your parachute fails to open.... Not to get religious, but people pray for many things/reasons. Th
56 idlewildchild: Thanks. I appreciate the validation from a professional.
57 EK413: I've just come across a video of the incident... http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F#/watch?v=5kU5GzAQEo0 EK413
58 spacecadet: Says AV Herald, which is the source everyone who is claiming this was a non-event is referring to. The point I was making is that even the source bei
59 EK413: Now this would be a scary incident but again the crew are very professional assuring the passengers everything is well under control... http://m.youtu
60 SYDSpotter: Yeah unfortunately there are some people who are terrified of flying and any incident can make an already stressful flight turning into something rat
61 flylonghaul: Anyone have any info on how long the repairs will take? I flew in this evening on QF865 but of course was seated on the wrong side to catch anything m
62 EK413: Not sure how long, more than likely the aircraft would be temporally repaired and ferried back home... EK413
63 travelavnut: Here is a better link, couldn't open the link above on my desktop; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wI_5qDrMuK0 That's a pretty big shower of sparks co
64 tdscanuck: Compressor stalls, by themselves, don't cause sparks for long duration (they do cause flames but only until the compressor recovers). To get sparks y
65 AirlineCritic: That is an amazing video. If this is happening five minutes after the problem started, what is going on? If the engine develops a problem, it gets sh
66 tdscanuck: That last one...a windmilling engine with a blade rub can throw plenty of sparks. Tom.
67 zeke: No big deal if flames come out the front or rear, it is just being vented to the atmosphere. Out the side is a different situation, that is where fla
68 EK413: Cheers... The link was an iPad version... Any idea if the investigation into the incident has been completed? EK413
69 EK413: Just an update the aircraft is undergoing repairs in hangar 416... Pretty cool site with an A380 butt sticking out of the hangar considering it's an
70 zeke: Another update fro.m the Australian ATSB, #3 engine GP7270 (15,146 hours since new, 1,857 cycles since new) suffered a second stage high pressure tur
71 2175301: Contained Engine Failure.... As it should be. Thanks for the update. Have a great day,
72 EPA001: Thanks for posting this Zeke. I guess the aircraft has returned to service quite soon after the engine malfunction happened? And does anyone know if
73 EK413: Cheers... Thanks for the update on EK413 in flight engine shutdown... Great to see the aircraft has returned to revenue service... I take it this inc
74 RickNRoll: Not quite. The RR engine went overspeed, so that the large sections of it went flying off in random directions. This one only saw small fragments hitt
75 EK413: In saying that can we agree the design of the power plant met its expectations and prevented the aircraft sustaining any damage? EK413
76 RickNRoll: The RR would have probably comfortably contained a similar failure to this one as well. Neither one could have coped with the massive chunks that went
77 DocLightning: Seems like it to me. It still is a significant event in such a new engine. Not ominous or world-shattering, but significant.
78 zeke: Yes back in service, engine change. It has been suggested to me that they have heard internally that the initial cause of the failure was a bird.
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