LTU Lose part at DUS

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I've been waiting for someone who knows about it to post information about LTU losing a piece of an aircraft (engine nacelle bit?) on takeoff from DUS at about 1100 LT on Thursday 4th Oct.

It was reported in the German press:

Am Donnerstag kurz vor 11 Uhr in Dormagen-Stürzelberg. Heinrich Morgalla arbeitet im Garten eines Bekannten, als es auf der Straße einen Riesenknall gibt.
„Ich dachte zuerst, jemand wäre in mein geparktes Auto gefahren“, erzählt der 55-Jährige. Doch als er hinter der hohen Hecke nachsieht, erkennt der Mann, der als Kfz-Mechaniker bei der Lufthansa arbeitet, sofort: Hier sind Flugzeugteile vom Himmel gefallen!
Der Schreck steht Morgalla auch Stunden nach der Beinahe-Katastrophe noch ins Gesicht geschrieben. „Die Absturzstelle war nur fünf Meter von mir entfernt“, sagt Morgalla. „Ich hatte einen Schutzengel, sonst wäre ich jetzt tot!“
Sofort alarmierte er gemeinsam mit Anwohnern die Polizei. „Unsere Streifenwagenbesatzung war kurze Zeit später vor Ort, fand Metallteile, etwa einmal einen Meter groß“, bestätigt Polizeisprecher Heinz-Willi Arnold. „Die Teile wurden sichergestellt und das zuständige Luftfahrtbundesamt informiert.“
Ermittlungen beim Düsseldorfer Flughafen ergeben schnell: Die Teile stammen von einem LTU-Jet. „Ein Airbus A 330-300 aus unserer Flotte befand sich auf dem Weg von Düsseldorf nach Thessaloniki, als der Kapitän den Schaden am Triebwerk bemerkte und umkehrte“, bestätigt LTU-Sprecher Marco Dadomo. „An Bord waren neun Besatzungsmitglieder und 114 Passagiere.“

The report included a picture

http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff141/picshooter/LTUPart.jpg

[wobble2plank]

A very quick translation:
On Thursday just before 11 am Heinrich Morgella was working in a friends garden when he heard a loud crash. Thinking someone had driven into his car he looked over a hedge. The 55 year old former vehicle mechanic who worked for Lufthansa though 'these are aircraft parts that have fallen from the sky!' The shock was with him for hours thinking about how close to disaster he had been as the parts had impacted less than 5 meters from him. 'I had a protecting angel, otherwise I would be dead' he said.

He, along with other residents immediately informed the police who were soon on the scene and secured the site where they found metal pieces about 1 meter long. The local air authorities were immediately informed.

There was a quick reply from Dusseldorf Airport where a spokesman for LTU, Marco Dadomo, confirmed that the pieces were from one of their Airbus A330-300 aircraft which was on route from Dusseldorf to Thessalonika when the Captain noticed a problem with the engine and turned back. On board were the crew and 114 passengers.


Hope that helps! (apologies to any native German speakers!)
W2P

[Hand Solo]

Looks a bit like a thrust reverser blocker door. Anyone know what it is?

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pprune never fails to surprise!

Does no-one have any information, even guesswork, on what the part is and why it fell off?

It seems to be quite a significant event; I know parts do fall off from time to time, but it's never less than scary when they do, not least to those underneath.

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German Airliner Makes Emergency Landing At JIA
By Kyle Meenan <http://www.firstcoastnews.com/inside/bios/meenan_kyle.asp>
First Coast News

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- An LTU Airlines Airbus A-330-300 Charter flight from Germany to Miami was forced to make an emergency landing at JIA Monday afternoon after the jumbo plane's right engine failed.

The flight from Dusseldorf carried 239 passengers and a crew of ten, encountering difficulties about an hour from Miami International Airport.

Passengers describe a loud metallic crunch as the aircraft bumped and the captain announced the plane's right engine was damaged and shut down.

The plane touched down safely on the tarmac at Jacksonville International Airport just after three o'clock Monday afternoon. There were no reports of injuries, though several passengers described the final hour as 'nerve-wracking' and 'frightening.'

US Customs and Border Protection personnel were called to the scene while the plane was still in flight to prepare the rarely used Customs Gate on the lower floor of the end of Concourse C. The area is normally used only a few times a year for charter flights, according to Customs and Border Patrol officials.

Because the Airbus A330-300 is too large of an aircraft to use JIA's normal gates, passengers and crew were forced to wait for three hours on the tarmac as LTU officials arranged bus transportation to the gate.

Once inside, they were processed like any other US Customs facility. Passports and identification were checked and verified. Photos were taken and compared, and passengers were screened as to their purpose for entering the United States.

No LTU Airline personnel were available to answer the myriad of questions from confused passengers. The nearest office is in Miami.

Passengers were not allowed to walk upstairs to the secure public area of JIA, but they had the option to board buses for the 6-hour trip to Miami, or take secure, escorted shuttles to the front of the JIA terminal where they could rent cars, cabs, limousines, or make other arrangements to complete their journey.

Special arrangements also had to be taken into consideration for tons of freight aboard the aircraft since it was deemed international cargo entering the United States in Jacksonville.

In all, it took about three hours to clear all 239 passengers and the crew of ten through Customs.

Calls to LTU Airlines were not returned Monday evening. According to the plane's manufacturer, Airbus International, LTU has three of its A330-300s in service.

There is no word Monday what caused the engine to fail.

[AUX]

Some info to the incident that happend on 4th OCT.LT230 to SKG. Airbus A330-300 D-AERK.Came out from A Check. Uneventfull flight until 10min during initial climb.No 1. engine cowling got loose and both huge parts were torn off.Both parts hit the aircraft. Damage: Dents in leading edge slats, puncutured fuel wing tank with leaking fuel, ruptured/holes in the fuselage.RegardsAuX

[lomapaseo]

Some info to the incident that happend on 4th OCT.LT230 to SKG. Airbus A330-300 D-AERK.Came out from A Check. Uneventfull flight until 10min during initial climb.No 1. engine cowling got loose and both huge parts were torn off.Both parts hit the aircraft. Damage: Dents in leading edge slats, puncutured fuel wing tank with leaking fuel, ruptured/holes in the fuselage.RegardsAuX

Obviously this describes much more than an engine surge. If it's anywhere near as descibed it would be a major incident attracting the NTSB.

Any photos?

[Avman]

Reading lomapaseo's post I think that some confusion is arising from details of two totally seperate incidents here.
INCIDENT 1 - outbound DUS October 4th
INCIDENT 2 - inbound MIA October 8th.

Edited for correction

[DA50driver]

Once the flight had been processed for departure it is considered gone. All the little white and green forms had been collected from all the pax, so new ones had to be issued. (I94 forms).

If the destination would have been Jacksonville then there would have been no issues.

I am impressed they did all the pax in 3 hours on short notice at an airport that does not handle many Int'l flights.

[andrijander]

Avman,

indeed confusion it is. However incident 2 had MIA as destination from somewhere in germany.

Incident 1 DUS-SKG 4th october is the one AUX refers to and no, NTSB would have none to do with that unless asked to participate, happening over germany and a/c being an airbus (and no american passengers hurt, if there were any on board anyway).

Going back to incident 2: 3 hours is NOT impressive and I would defintely be p!ss#d off if I had just left and had to go through inmigration again!! but that's off topic.

A.

[Avman]

:ok: Indeed andrijander you are quite correct. Guilty myself of reading too fast.....and inaccurately! I have corrected my post.

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I must take some blame for causing confusion by posting both incidents in the same thread.....

However, it did occur to me that a small possibility existed of a connection; for example, the same aircraft and same engine involved in both incidents.

Assuming that there is no connection whatsoever (correct?) it's the first that's alarming. A shut-down followed by a diversion is just that, unless the shut-down resulted from some serious maintenance or handling errors, which it probably didn't.

But...

during initial climb.No 1. engine cowling got loose and both huge parts were torn off.Both parts hit the aircraft. Damage: Dents in leading edge slats, puncutured fuel wing tank with leaking fuel, ruptured/holes in the fuselage.RegardsAuX Yesterday 12:25(a) sounds as though the writer has inside knowledge and (b) is much more serious.

How did it happen? More importantly, why?

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Interesting. Material falures are supposed to be things of the past.

I am very well aware of the high standards of maintenance prevailing at LTU, incidentally, which is why I was digging for the real reason, since poor maintenance, or an uncaptured maintenance error, was a very unlikely factor.