Airbus Updates No.1673

Incident: France A388 over Greenland on Sep 30th 2017, fan and engine inlet separated

By Simon Hradecky, created Saturday, Sep 30th 2017 17:52Z, last updated Sunday, Oct 1st 2017 14:51Z An Air France Airbus A380-800, registration F-HPJE performing flight AF-66 from Paris Charles de Gaulle (France) to Los Angeles,CA (USA) with 497 passengers and 23 crew, was enroute at FL370 about 200nm southeast of Nuuk (Greenland) when the fan and inlet of the #4 engine (GP7270, outboard right hand) separated from the engine. The crew descended the aircraft to FL310 and diverted to Goose Bay,NL (Canada) for a safe landing about 2 hours later at 12:41L (15:41Z). Emergency services reported hydraulic fluid leaking from the engine. A runway inspection discovered debris on the arrival runway, which needed to be cleaned before the runway could be reopened. A passenger reported there was a loud thud followed by vibrations. The passengers report they were kept on board of the aircraft until arrival of the replacement aircraft because the airport does not have stairs to accomodate the A380. The airline reported the aircraft diverted to Goose Bay following serious damage to one of the four engines. Flight and Cabin crew handled the serious incident perfectly. Teams are being dispatched to Goose Bay to assist the passengers, the airline is working to re-route the passengers to Los Angeles via their connecting platforms in North America. The airline later reported that airline staff reached Goose Bay and now takes care of the passengers. Two flights were dispatched to Goose Bay to pick up the passengers and take them to Los Angeles. An Air France Boeing 777-300 registration F-GZNO arriving from Montreal,QC (Canada) reached Goose Bay at about 02:50L (05:50Z) and is estimated to depart Goose Bay at 04:15L (07:15Z). An additional Boeing 737-300 registration C-GNLQ leased in from Nolinor arrived 3 hours ago and already departed Goose Bay as flight NRL-580 to Winnipeg,MB (Canada) and further to Los Angeles. On Oct 1st 2017 the Canadian TSB reported they have dispatched a team of investigators to Goose Bay to collect evidence and assess the occurrence. http://flightaware.com/live/flight/AFR66/history/20170930/0820Z/LFPG/KLAX The engine seen in flight (Photo: Chris): The engine seen in flight (Photo: Miguel Amador): The engine seen in flight (Photo: Rick Engebretsen):

Airbus Updates No.1672

Air France Airbus A380 (AF66) Suffers Un-contained Engine Failure

Image Courtesy of Airbus

September 30

17:142017

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MIAMI – Air France Flight 66 (AF66) operating from Paris to Los Angeles has diverted to Goose Bay Airport (YYR) after a mid-air explosion of one of the engines of the Airbus A380 jet flying the route.

The A380 superjumbo (registration F-HPJE) was about three-quarters of the way across the Atlantic over Southeast Greenland when the #4 engine on the right wing of the airplane suffered an uncontained engine failure.

According to reports from passengers onboard, the plane then vibrated roughly for about 20 minutes before the pilots diverted the aircraft to Goose Bay, where passengers faced a more than two-hour wait for ground service equipment (GSE) that would allow them to disembark.

According to Air France, the aircraft safely completed the diversion and all passengers were safely evacuated from the aircraft. Further reporting revealed that a cowling in the Engine Alliance GP7200 disintegrated and that after the incident, there was a hydraulic fluid leak.

23h

Klaasjan Tukker @ktukker

Replying to @TomPodolec and 3 others

Photo of #AF66 engine - taken by colleague Martin Brand - http://facebook.com/brand.martin  pic.twitter.com/PTkIiJNguG

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Air France Newsroom @AFnewsroom

#AF66 landed safely. Customers taken care by Air France and rerouting solutions on going.

5:32 PM - Sep 30, 2017

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The event on AF 66 is the second major A380 uncontained engine failure to occur mid-flight, after Qantas Flight 32 back in 2010. In that incident, a Qantas A380 flying from Singapore to Sydney suffered an uncontained engine failure due to the disintegration of a turbine disc in the planes #2 Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine.

This caused widespread damage to the aircraft (indeed far more damage than the incident on AF 66) and caused the aircraft to divert back to Singapore Changi Airport (the incident occurred over Batam Island, Indonesia).

As a result of QF 32, Qantas’ entire A380 fleet was grounded and service limitations and engine replacements were experienced by other Rolls-Royce A380 operators (Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines).

At the moment, it’s unclear whether any broad-based impact will be felt by the global A380 fleet. At the very least, despite their similarities, the two engine incidents are almost certainly not linked, as Qantas’ A380s are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines.