Sat "Courier Mail"
Qantas jet fire leads to Boeing overhaul
AIRCRAFT manufacturer Boeing has ordered changes in the way its international passenger planes are maintained after fire broke out in a Qantas jet engine. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau's investigation into the incident over Los Angeles in December 2002 has blamed a single blade inside the aircraft's number one port-side jet engine which broke free just after take off.
A loud cracking noise was heard by passengers and crew when the blade broke free, violently jolting the aircraft and causing a small fire to break out in the Rolls-Royce engine.
The Qantas 747-400 jumbo jet carrying 191 passengers bound for New York returned on one engine to Los Angeles International Airport, where fire rescue crews were waiting.
Several VIPs were aboard the aircraft, including News Limited chairman Lachlan Murdoch and his wife, supermodel Sarah O'Hare, as well as former Ansett chairman and News Corporation board member Ken Cowley.
Rock star Jon Bon Jovi was also on board the plane, which was stranded on the tarmac for more than two hours as cargo, baggage and catering supplies were off-loaded on to a replacement Qantas jet.
The flight, in a replacement 747-400, eventually took off three-and-a-half hours later and the broken engine was taken back to Australia to Qantas's engine maintenance facility for a full examination.
The Transport Safety Bureau's investigators said the engine was not overdue for an overhaul, and had not undergone any major maintenance.
They concluded in their report which was released yesterday that the blade had broken free because of a crack caused by metal fatigue.
Boeing had been aware of similar failures by blades in the same series of turbofan jet engines, and in August last year the aircraft manufacturer told engineers maintaining the engines to use a special new lubricant for the blades.
It has also revised its manufacturing processes for the blades and developed a new inspection procedure to detect cracks in the blades without having to remove the engine from the aircraft.
The engine fire was just one of a series of incidents on Qantas aircraft in the past 18 months.
In July 2002, two passengers had to be administered oxygen after they experienced breathing difficulties when a white, acrid haze spread through a BAe 146-100 aircraft as it was preparing to take off from Brisbane for Alice Springs.
The fumes were later found to have been caused by an overtightened hydraulic oil coupling.
Just one month later, a Qantas jet narrowly avoided ploughing into an American charter plane during a nail-biting take-off at Los Angeles airport.
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