Qantas A330 In-Flight Engine Shut Down
 

Pilot had to shut down one engine and head back due to starter motor having no oil in it after maintenance.

From news.com.au:

Midair engine malfunction hits Qantas jet | Travel News | News.com.au

There seems to be a pattern here with Qantas where they have been "Lucky" with a number of incidents.

Seems they still refuse to bite the bullet on overseas maintenance

Really?

And how about the damage caused to VH-OJM and VH-OJK at AValon?

Overseas maintenance doesn't seem to be a problem for all the overseas operators who come here to Oz. :8

Regards,
BH.

Yep the Avalon incident was a massive screw up.

Qantas is having so many issues lately, they have just been extremely lucky there hasn't been anything more than a serious incident. ie the 330 near Learmonth.

I agree the other carriers into Australia don't seem to have these problems and good on them. I use to be a big fan but now avoid flying Qantas. Maybe I worded the previous post incorrectly but surely Qantas has to do something to curb all the problems of late.

Vija, how do you know that overseas maintenance caused the A330 engine shut down? This aircraft was serviced by Qantas line maintenace for several days after it's return from a C check in Hong Kong. Blaming all their problems on overseas maintenace is becoming a bit of a bore.:rolleyes:

Is this a genuine increase or is it just that incidents which would normally not warrant a mention are being reported more widely?

(I'm not saying an engine shutdown isn't potentially a problem....)

One is having a bad day on the 'line' if one has to open the cowlings!;)

Isn't the GE engine starter oil system sperated from the engine oil system? I only know the P&W and R&R engines on the A330 and there, the starter motor has it's own oil system so no need to shut down an Engine because of an oil loss in the Starter motor. Also there is no indication to the flight crew about that.

Greetings,
Michael

One is having a bad day on the 'line' if one has to open the cowlings!
 

oil level check of the IDG does not requires the engine cowls to be opened. usually threr is an access panel for this .(assuming we are dealing with an idg issue) if it is a starter then may be openning the engine cowls is a must.:ok:

Maybe its the reporting, but I'm confused. If the starter was out of oil wouldn't it have blown its brains out on the last start? The report said, "the engine starter motor sheared off". Could that indicate the starter clutch didn't disengage after the last start, so even with the start valve closed the gearbox was back driving the starter which it's not supposed to do, and eventually the starter just said bollox and gave up? That said, wouldn't the shaft have sheared before the starter fell off, assuming it was still engaged? Does anybody think they mean the oil leaked from the gearbox starter pad carbon(or whatever they use these days) or starter drive shaft seals; this would mean a loss of engine oil via the gearbox and eventually a shut down if the leak was big enough or the flight long enough?

Confused of Minnesota....

Considering the starter uses its own self contained oil resovoir which is in no way shape or form connected with the engine lube system i fail to see how a sheared starter quill shaft(which is designed to shear in event of a overload )would cause a loss of engine oil, more uninformed speculation here i fear, further as said above had the starter been dispatched off maintenance with no oil in it it would not have lasted more than a couple of cranks at most

Lets cut the BS.

The overseas maintenance company that the Aussies whine about maintains the worlds biggest A330/A340 fleet, and somehow their main customer keeps out of the headlines unlike QF.

Maybe QF should be outsourcing more of its maintenance?

If a shaft shears it normally damages the spline oring and then you will loose your engine oil. Most accessories use engine oil to lubricate the drive shafts.

I think not. Quill shafts aren't sealed, they only connect two shafts which have their own sealing arrangements. There is no reason for a quill shaft to cause a loss of engine oil when it shears, it is designed specifically NOT to cause secondary damage.

Exactly, ive come across numerous starter /drive shafts failures and ive never seen it cause secondary damage to the gearbox seals

Another blamefest on external MRO facilities. Would be better to know the exact cause than rely on the uniformed tat from a newspaper.

This is not the first example of this with Qantas.

One can not sort things like this out in an internet thread based on vague comments like "aviation sources"

The consequence to the flight "in-flight engine shutdown" by the crew occur across the flight for a variety of reasons which by themselves are as benign as this one to the safety of the flight (although a pain in the a** to the passengers)

The best I can sort out in the news report is the more reliable comment by the Qantas man David Cox which acknowledges that an engine low oil warning light came on associated somehow with a starter motor malfunction. It would require a degree of speculation without more details to understand but the understanding is only of importance to the preventive action in the future which is far removed from the lot of most casual readers of news print.

I seem to recall a starter failures in the past year on an other installation where the starter rotor disintegrated and punctured the engine casing itself.

I feel for Qantas but the only way out of the news is a stroke of really good luck or a smaller fleet BTDT

Very hard to believe all the info in the above Link on post #1. The oil contained in the starter is an maximum 1 Quart! Its self contained also. Something in the story is a miss here and not being told about! Lets wait until the full incident report is published....