No one disputes the prime cause of this failure was the incorrect instalation of a part on the right engine. What beggers belief is this crew reacted to a fuel imbalance without first ensuring there was not a leak! I have the time line for the incident somwhere but can't recall exactly when the right engine failed. I have run this excercise many times in the simulator and there is never a problem getting the aircraft down on one engine if the situation is correctly handled, eg the crew check for a fuel leak before opening the fuel cross feed! With a leak from the engine the engine may well fail with fuel in the associated tank and continue to leak fuel depending on the location of the leak. One thing is certain if the fuel leak procedure is correctly followed the other engines fuel supply is protected.
The crew may not be entirley to blame for the incident but they were the last line of defence and are therefore not the heros some have portrayed, they were very lucky boys in my opinion. I am not advocating hanging them but this incident has highlighted a problem that others can learn from, somtimes you need to apply a little thought to ECAM drills and ensure you really know what the problem is.
GMEDX the A330 will fly on one engine with no fuel on the opposite side as will the A320/1 and A319.
