Airbus Updates No.885

Incident: Air Berlin A332 at Phuket on Dec 20th 2012, uncontained engine failure and fire

By Simon Hradecky, created Thursday, Dec 20th 2012 16:44Z, last updated Saturday, Dec 22nd 2012 12:04Z An Air Berlin Airbus A330-200, registration D-ABXA performing flight AB-7425 from Phuket (Thailand) to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) with 249 passengers, was climbing out of Phuket's runway 27 when the crew stopped the climb and decided to return to Phuket. The crew declared emergency reporting a left hand engine (PW4168) fire indication, shut the engine down, activated the engine fire suppression and landed safely on runway 09 about 40 minutes after departure at 21:26L (14:26Z). The aircraft was disabled on the runway after a number of tyres deflated, there were no injuries. The passengers disembarked onto the runway via mobile stairs. The airport reported the crew reported an engine fire before turning back to the aerodrome. The aerodrome was closed for about 6 hours until the aircraft was removed from the runway. Passengers reported repeated bangs and sparks flying off an engine. Three main gear tyres were blown during landing. One passenger reported the aircraft was already descending back towards Phuket at 21:14L when the engine caught fire. Sources tell The Aviation Herald, that the engine had suffered an uncontained engine failure which also damaged two hydraulic systems - the green and blue hydraulic systems are both pressurized by engine driven pumps located in engine #1. Leaking hydraulic fluid caught fire during the return to Phuket. The aircraft's fly by wire system reverted to direct law, no antiskid was available for braking in Phuket. The airline confirmed an incident on flight AB-7425, all passengers are in good health and disembarked via stairs, no further details are yet known to the airline. The airline does not confirm an engine fire however. An Etihad Airways Boeing 777-300, registration A6-ETI performing flight EY-403 from Bangkok (Thailand) to Abu Dhabi diverted to Phuket to pick up the passengers of flight AB-7425, departed Phuket at 12:20L (05:20Z) and is estimated to reach Abu Dhabi with a delay of 3.5 hours with respect to flight EY-403 and a delay of 15 hours with respect to flight AB-7425. Incident: Jetblue A320 near Aruba on Dec 21st 2012, hydraulic failure By Simon Hradecky, created Sunday, Dec 23rd 2012 20:20Z, last updated Sunday, Dec 23rd 2012 20:20Z A Jetblue Airbus A320-200, registration N523JB performing flight B6-756 from Aruba (Aruba) to New York JFK,NY (USA) with 128 passengers, was climbing out of Aruba when the crew decided to return to Aruba reporting a hydraulic failure. The aircraft landed safely back in Aruba. The flight was cancelled, the passengers were rebooked onto one of the next flights B6-764 and B6-758 later the day. Incident: THY A320 at Istanbul on Dec 23rd 2012, dropped engine cowl By Simon Hradecky, created Monday, Dec 24th 2012 09:45Z, last updated Monday, Dec 24th 2012 09:45Z A THY Turkish Airlines Airbus A320-200, registration TC-JPN performing flight TK-1825 from Istanbul (Turkey) to Dusseldorf (Germany) with 130 passengers, was departing Istanbul Ataturk Airport's runway 35R when parts of the right hand engine cowling (V2527) departed the engine. The crew levelled off at 8000 feet and returned to Istanbul for a safe landing on ruway 35R about 40 minutes after departure. A replacement Airbus A320-200 registration TC-JPC departed Istanbul the following morning and reached Dusseldorf with a delay of 9 hours.