Yesterday the port engine on an Air New Zealand 767 failed at 11,000 feet on a flight to Auckland ex Brisbane. The crew safely landed the plane back at Brisbane after declaring an emergency.
The attached scanned photo from the New Zealand Herald (apologies for the quality) shows that the debris from a later stage of the engine caused a 30 cm rupture in the engine casing, The debris grazed the engine pod and damaged the leading edge of the wing above the engine as it left.
It is fortuitous that the debris did not leave in another direction, for example, towards the fuselage/wing root, where it could have caused untold damage.
The photo also shows a missing engine panel, which I assume to be of less significance.
I am not an aviation engineer, but I have a feeling that the incidence of uncontained engine failure is rare in a modern airliner. The only ones that I can think of in recent times are the British Airtours 737 which burnt at Manchester, and the DC10 which crash landed at Sioux City, Iowa. Am I right?
Am I also right in suspecting that this engine failure might have an impact on allowable ETOPS ranges for 767s with this GE engine?
Here is a description of the incident that appeared in the Brisbane Courier Mail:
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Engine break-up forces emergency landing
09dec02
PASSENGERS on an Air New Zealand flight watched as parts of one engine disintegrated shortly after takeoff from Brisbane airport yesterday.
One passenger said the effect of an engine panel detaching and slamming into a wing was "like being in a car accident."
"There was a hell of a bang then the lights went out in the cabin and trims from overhead compartments fell off.
"Some passengers up the back who saw parts come off were distressed and crying but most were calm because the crew did an amazing job to help passengers," the Brisbane man said.
Aircraft NZ132 with 190 passengers and 10 crew on board took off from Brisbane airport at 10.05am. It had reached about 11,000 feet when there was a bang and the engine shut down.
A police spokesperson said ground crew later reported a hole in the engine of more than 30cm in width.
He said an emergency alert was declared at Brisbane and the aircraft landed safely about 10.40am. Police blocked traffic from entering the domestic and international terminals in case the aircraft did not land safely.
Passengers were forced to stay on the aircraft for an hour after landing before being shuttled to the international where paramedics checked any health concerns.
All passengers were given a clean bill of health.
"There was substantial damage to the outer left side of the engine and the engine panel has come off," an Air NZ spokesman said.
"The cause is not yet known."
Air NZ official Craig Sinclair said there was damage to the engine cowling and near the leading edge flap.
A Civil Air Safety Authority spokesman said investigators were looking at whether a turbine blade had come adrift.
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Scanned image of article.
I've edited the image down to a link, 'cos it was screwing with the browser settings, requiring a lateral scroll.... £6