First Inflight A380 Incident -

[XJSJohn]

Think this is the first (other than early days landing gear problems on ground)

Witnesses on the ground report hearing a loud explosion and debris on ground in Batam, Indonesia!

Quantas say that teh engine "shut down", sounds more like it grenaded itself!!

Plane has landed at Changi and my mates at the airport say that one of the engines was rather smokey!!!!

edit to add link

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore...

Straits Times said:

SINGAPORE - A TROUBLED Qantas Airbus A380 plane made an emergency landing in Singapore on Thursday with smoke coming out of its underside and was quickly surrounded by six fire engines.

Fire engines immediately swarmed the aircraft as soon is it landed on the tarmac on Changi Airport.

'I can see smoke coming out of it,' the reporter said, adding that firefighters were spraying the aircraft with a brown liquid. 'One of the engines on the left wing looks blown off. It is black and has jagged edges,' the reporter added.

A Qantas spokesman said the plane bound from Singapore to Sydney had 433 passengers on board and there were no immediate reports of injuries.

Australia's government said no passengers or crew were injured. A foreign department statement said: 'The flight has landed safely at Changi Airport and there are no passengers or crew injured.'

Confirming the emergency landing, a statement from the Changi Airport Group said: 'An A380 Qantas flight, QF 32, bound for Sydney, Australia, departed Singapore Changi Airport at 9.56 am . For technical reasons, the aircraft turned back to Changi. It landed safely at 11.46 hours.'

Debris including what appears to be a piece of the tail of a Qantas jet was found Thursday in the Indonesian town of Batam after a loud mid-air explosion, a witness said.

'I didn't see a plane crash but I heard a loud explosion in the air. There were metal shards coming down from the sky into an industrial area in Batam,' witness Noor Kanwa told AFP. -- AFP

Edited by XJSJohn on Thursday 4th November 04:59

[bob1179]

It looks like it may have been turbine compressor failure. Basically a blade or two fails sending metal out of the engine at high speed ripping stuff apart as it does so. They are pretty much designed to contain as much of the damage inside as the casing as possible however.

I could be completley wrong of course.

[XJSJohn]

I will tell you by the end of the weekend, the maintainance guys drink in my local watering hole!!

[Bing o]

XJSJohn said:

I will tell you by the end of the weekend, the maintainance guys drink in my local watering hole!!

Thank god it wasn't a Singapore Airlines flight...

[XJSJohn]

Bing o said:

XJSJohn said:

I will tell you by the end of the weekend, the maintainance guys drink in my local watering hole!!

Thank god it wasn't a Singapore Airlines flight...

I think Qantas use Rolls engines same as SIA, its only Emerates that went for teh GE units so far.

[Bing o]

XJSJohn said:

Bing o said:

XJSJohn said:

I will tell you by the end of the weekend, the maintainance guys drink in my local watering hole!!

Thank god it wasn't a Singapore Airlines flight...

I think Qantas use Rolls engines same as SIA, its only Emerates that went for teh GE units so far.

I wasn't talking about the engines...anyway, back on topic, hope it's just a one off - I like getting the A380's up to Tokyo, sublimely quiet and comfortable.

[speedchick]

To be fair, it does seem that if you want to test an aeroplane to its limits, all you have to do is give it to Qantas, they seem to have a problem with every type and bits falling off.

[anonymous-user]

speedchick said:

To be fair, it does seem that if you want to test an aeroplane to its limits, all you have to do is give it to Qantas, they seem to have a problem with every type and bits falling off.

They'll repair them and get them back into working order no matter what it costs though!

[anonymous-user]

bob1179 said:

It looks like it may have been turbine compressor failure. Basically a blade or two fails sending metal out of the engine at high speed ripping stuff apart as it does so. They are pretty much designed to contain as much of the damage inside as the casing as possible however.

I could be completley wrong of course.

It doesn't look very 'contained'

[Bing o]

el stovey said:

It doesn't look very 'contained'

Sounds like some of it contained itself all over Batam - just glad my golf club is on Bintan and not on the flight path

(I hope)

[bob1179]

el stovey said:

bob1179 said:

It looks like it may have been turbine compressor failure. Basically a blade or two fails sending metal out of the engine at high speed ripping stuff apart as it does so. They are pretty much designed to contain as much of the damage inside as the casing as possible however.

I could be completley wrong of course.

It doesn't look very 'contained'

The bits do tend to travel at a fairly high rate of knots...

Obviously you can put lots of shielding around the turbine as they do with the ones that live on the ground, but this adds lots of weight, which means it will use more fuel, which makes things more expensive.

[speedchick]

You gotta feel sorry for the Indonesians, like they haven't enough to worry about with tsunamis and volcanoes, now it's aircraft bits falling on them.

[anonymous-user]

euroboy said:

There is a picture on twitter from onboard showing damage to the wing surfaces - apparently not too far from the main wing fuel tanks - could have been a lot worse by the sounds of it.

Sounds nasty. I thought the Qantas photo on this thread showed damage to the upper wing but it's hard to make any assessment really.

[anonymous-user]

bob1179 said:

The bits do tend to travel at a fairly high rate of knots...

Obviously you can put lots of shielding around the turbine as they do with the ones that live on the ground, but this adds lots of weight, which means it will use more fuel, which makes things more expensive.

Bits shouldn't leave the pod though.

[normalbloke]

el stovey said:

bob1179 said:

It looks like it may have been turbine compressor failure. Basically a blade or two fails sending metal out of the engine at high speed ripping stuff apart as it does so. They are pretty much designed to contain as much of the damage inside as the casing as possible however.

I could be completley wrong of course.

It doesn't look very 'contained'

This is definately going to have some repercussions. A turbine failure is no huge event, but when the cowling fails to contain the debris( as they are designed to do so), it has much more serious implications. There are photos of the wing having been damaged by full penetration too.
Rumour has it the major maint is carried out by Lufthansa, and it had just come back from a serious spannering session.

Edited by normalbloke on Thursday 4th November 07:36

[anonymous-user]

euroboy said:

Clear damage to the upper wing surface:

There's some lucky lucky bds on that flight.

[Einion Yrth]

euroboy said:

if that landed on your head you would know about it.

Actually I suspect you wouldn't. Your next of kin would, mind.

[DJC]

Ill ask a few discreet questions this morning, see what comes back.

[fatboy b]

Anyone know why the front undercarriage doors would still be open?

[petemurphy]

fatboy b said:

Anyone know why the front undercarriage doors would still be open?

looks like a cool get me outta here door for the pilots!