PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Qantas A380 uncontained #2 engine failure
Old 5th Nov 2010, 16:08
  #398 (permalink)  
GarageYears
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: VA, USA
Age: 58
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Waste of web-bandwidth?

OK, so why are we suddenly obsessing on the necessity to add another (complicated) engine control system to aircraft? I don't understand the fuss - sure the incident we are discussing here led to a situation where #1 could not be shut down, however I question whether this was a significant safety issue? (At least compared to #2 blowing a good portion of itself into little pieces and flying around making holes in things).

In this instance it was not a safety issue - at least in the context that no one at all was injured as a result of the running engine, the cause was (can we agree) exceptional (are we OK with that statement - uncontained engine failures are rare?) and the result was at worst perhaps a bit of a conundrum.

However, does anyone really think this is likely to happen again in a meaningful time period? How many 4 engined aircraft has this affected in the past? So far I am personally only aware of one, and again the circumstances were exceptional.

I think someone else proposed the only solution that makes any sense to me - a prominent red hatch on the engine pylon, with a big red "OFF" lever behind it, and long pole with a hook on the end of it...

- GY
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