Posted on 11/19/2010 3:28:38 PM PST by naturalman1975
NEW details have emerged revealing just how close Qantas flight QF32 came to disaster earlier this month.
Turbine fragments flew out of the plane’s engine when it exploded in mid-air, severing cables in the wing, narrowly missing the fuel tank and taking out flight control systems during the November 4 incident, according to a preliminary report by Airbus.
The pilots were forced to deal with an "unprecedented" number of issues during the two-hour ordeal, Vice President of the Australian and International Pilots Association, Richard Woodward, said.
“The amount of failures is unprecedented,'' Mr Woodward, a Qantas A380 pilot who has spoken to all five pilots told the Associated Press.
“There is probably a one in 100 million chance to have all that go wrong.''
The Federal Secretary of the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association, Steve Purvanis, has emphasised just how lucky the passengers were to survive the incident.
"Definitely with fuel gushing out of the fuel tank there and some very hot components, certainly one that was hot enough to explode an engine, they were very lucky that fuel inside the wing didn't ignite," he told ABC News.
"The passengers and crew on board were probably unaware of how serious the situation was.
"I would say from the pictures that I've seen that they're very lucky to be alive today."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
Rolls Royce is in deep doo-doo!
If any one of your ancestors had died prior to successful procreation, you wouldn't be here. Everyone alive has the outcome of ancestor success. What are the odds of that?
Two words.
“Rain Man”
If there'd been a small wire in one of the fuel tanks, however ...
Rolls-Royce's new-build Trent 970's have the fixed compressor stages, and it appears R-R will have to replace ALL of the engines that were built before they incorporated the updated compressor stages.
Anybody consider jet engine mechanics named mohammed?
I've been flying RR equipped Gulfstream Jets for almost two decades now, not one glitch beyond the normal wear and tear stuff..
To put this problem into proper perspective one must recall that when Airbus designed the A380 no engine on earth was capable of fitting the needs to lift this sucker.
They demanded aan engine that was super quite under the QC/2 departure and QC/0.5 arrival noise limits, plus it had to develop 40% more thrust than the existing monster engines currently used on the Boeing 777.
RR actually threatened to pull out of the design phase when the Airbus Consortium began pressuring them to meet unrealistic production timetables.
You need to remember that it was Airbus that was pushing everyone...
Unless the surviving spouse remarried. What are the odds of that?
Boeing 777 engines much more powerful than those on the Airbus A-380
Found on these aircraft:
•Boeing 777-200
•Boeing 777-200ER
•Boeing 777-200LR
•Boeing 777-300ER
•Boeing 777 Freighter
Introduction: Nov. 1995
Thrust Range: 76,000-115,000 lbs.
Aircraft Profile: Airbus A380
Available with two engine options: the 74,000lb – 84,000lb thrust Rolls-Royce Trent 900, and the 76,500lb – 81,500lb thrust General Electric/Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance GP7200, each producing 74,000lb – 84,000lb of thrust.
Two words
Jet Age
;)
Bookmark
Curiously, you neglected to list the engine that delivers 76,000-115,000 lbs
That reminds me. I better bring my Rolls Royce into the dealer garage for it’s oil change.
Really? My dealer comes to my garage. Just before he pops over to Rush's.
The wing’s two fuel tanks were punctured and fuel was leaking out, creating a growing imbalance between the left and right sides of the plane.
However the pilots were prevented from pumping fuel forward from tanks in the tail due to electrical problems, which saw the plane become tail heavy.
Safety investigators say that this may have been the greatest risk - if the plane had become too unbalanced it could have stalled and crashed.
A nose heavy airplane flies poorly, a tail heavy airplane flies once.
GE-90, in its various incarnations.
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