I Hope this is NOT true! (CAAC B747, pics)
 

The captain of a Chinese carrier flying a B747-400, requested permission and landed at FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) for an unscheduled refueling stop.
The reason became soon apparent to the ground crew: The Number 3 engine had been shut down because it didn't look so good. It had apparently been no problem for the tough guys back in China:
they took some sturdy straps and wrapped them around several of the fan blades and the structures behind, thus stopping any unwanted windmilling of the engine inflight and causing unwanted vibrations in the shutdown engine.

After securing the engine, off they went into the wild blue yonder with another revenue-making flight from China to London, on only three engines!
With the increased fuel consumption, they got a bit low on fuel, and just set it down at the closest airport for a quick refill.

That's when the problems started: The Germans, who are kind of picky about this stuff, inspected the malfunctioning engine and immediately grounded the aircraft.

The airline operator had to send a chunk of money to get the first engine replaced (took about 10 days) The repair contractor decided to do some impromptu inspection work on the other engines, none of which looked all that great either.

The result: a total of 3 engines were eventually changed on this plane before it was permitted to fly again.

http://home.exetel.com.au/pamuva/Oth...ChinaAir-a.jpg

The engine departed Looking like this!!
http://home.exetel.com.au/pamuva/Oth...ChinaAir-b.jpg

anyone else heard of this incident?

Yes it's true...happened a couple of years ago.

I'm still waiting to get my straps back!:suspect:

So, they strapped the fan to the stator vanes, and hoped for the best???

That instills confidence doesn't it!

I also love the Korean (or Asiana) 747 that decided to blithly cut a swath through the Aeroflot Tu154 on the ground, and then wondered why he had to advance the throttles in increasing ncrements to overcome the "sluggishness" Yeah, a fin will do that...

Ultralights, a good story but an urban legend I'm afraid. As you can see, the engine is off the wing on a transportation stand. The straps are routine maintenace devices for transportation. (One version of this story claimed they were seat belts from the cabin robbed by the Chinese mechanics.) There is no way you could do a three engine take off and flight from China to Frankfurt, as the original story claimed.

RTA,

http://www.airdisaster.com/photos/as...nc/photo.shtml

I don't think those engines have ever had "ROUTINE" maintenance! Even if the story is untrue, they obviously push their luck to the max.

Hotdog,
Yup, that's the one! thanks!

Anyone remember the Korean Airlines pilots sent here to do some sim training way back when? The Sim instructor would pull an engine after V2, and EVERY pilot simnply rolled the aircraft on it's back into the deck. When this CONTINUALLY happened, the Sim Instructor politely asked WHY? The Koreans response was that "In Korea, we do not have engine failures".

OUCH!

Maybe some Asiana or KAL expats could enlighten us some more?

RTA

Hot Dog may correct me but I understand that this story goes back to the 707 days and the response from the Korean pilots was not 'we do not have engine failures' but ' whenever we have an engine failure in the a/c, the check captain reaches over and retards the power lever...you haven't done that..therefore we haven't had an engine failure...QED'

I'm not sure how far that is, but I've flown a 747-200F from Dubai to Kuala Lumpur ('bout eight ours I think, we were going even slower than an Airbus) on three engines, for an engine change.
That's about 3500 nm I think.

If its the same event I saw a couple of years ago, the engine received some sort of fod or ice damage to the fan, China ground crews inspected it and said its OK, flew to Germany and it experienced severe in-flight vibration and had to be shut down.

"schedule before safety"

isnt that an old TAA saying or something
:confused:

OZTECH

18 wheeler, you are talking about a three engine ferry. The alledged CAAC incident was supposed to have been a revenue pax flight. Great Circle distance ZBAA/EDDF is around 4200 NMLS so I guess around 10 hrs flight time, depending on winds. In Africa maybe but not China.

i remember from my QF days, we had an Asiana 767 in for a C3 check, during normal inspection of the horizontal Stab, we found the forward spar cracked completly through, and a record 1000+ lightning strikes! and not to mention thousands of Unusual failures of structural components!

fortunatly the 76 is a tough bird.

Heard a ripper re.China A/L (or the like) using another carriers simulators,
I think it was CX...

Every time the Chinese get outta the sim, it smells like an ashtray..
SO...LOFT Video left playing to catch the offending lads..

4 hr exercise consisted of take off... autopilot engaged..into the holding pattern... all light up... have a bit of a chat.... seats back.... sleep for 3 hrs,
autocoupled approach and landing... a job well done...

OZTECH

The TN saying was

"The Schedule is important but Safety is paramount"

The sign was on one of the very old (pre computer days) manual control boards in the TN Operations Control Room, 2nd floor at Tulla. You'll find QF HR in that room now (plus quite a few ghosts, Ken where are you?).

tipsy
who spent many years looking at that sign.

Tipsy

Oh Gawd......Ken Cain ( open sector three ! ).
Wake up Lionel.
Stocko's got his foot caught in the rubbish bin again.
Hey Bucketmouth , make the coffee will you.
Ah the memories of that room.
I think the sign said...
" Schedule is important but Safety is most important ".

You're right, Lusimtingting.
It was " Schedule is important but Safety is most important ".
And the bin's on fire.
Or in Lionelspeak .." F**king Ars**oles!

Now that Qf HR is in that room, i wonder what the sign would say now?

"staff are Important, but not That important" or something similar! :D

couple of things i can see on those pix - the inlet is on a stand just behind the engine, and the plane is still in the vicinity. there is another engine sitting on a cradle just behind. it *may* have been v podded, but it would be unusual to see the engine so close to the aircraft without the txport cowling if it had been. there is not much damage to the stators behind the fan, and even if it had have been strapped for flight, the damage to it happened way before then. surely someone must know where/how this happened

How many times did Stocky 'ground return' from the carpark for his car keys?

tipsy

This is standard practice when doing a three engine ferry. Blades are stopped totating by using cargo straps to inhibit the engine turning, a practice which engineers call "Spragging"
What is NOT standard is pax carrying on these flights and is forbidden. Usually also, a qualified crew is needed and a special throttle opening sequence. For sure there are many classic crews out there who have done it.