Arrow Air DC-10 loses part of engine on t/o Manaus
 

G1 > Brasil - NOTÍCIAS - Parte da turbina de avião cai e danifica casas em Manaus

The Aviation Herald

continues to Bogota on 2 engines :\

Say it ain't so. Arrow air having mechanical irregularities.:eek: Who would have thunk it?:rolleyes:

Easy to understand why they didn't want to be stuck in Manaus with an engine to replace...

Is that such a big fault not to resume the flight on two engines, particularly on a freighter ?

http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...g/Arrow301.jpg


http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...g/Arrow338.jpg


http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...g/Arrow212.jpg


http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...g/Arrow140.jpg


http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...g/Arrow056.jpg

Well, British Airways can manage LAX to Manchester with an engine shut down, so what's the problem?

The problem is that Bogota is at elevation of about 8500' and that is actually the bottom of the valley.
It's in the middle of the Andes while Manaus is probably as flat as a pancake; don't they have cold beer there?

maybe it was a round trip, suitcase in BOG;)

Since the crew was informed that parts hit the ground and Brazil has been know to jail crew involved in accidents, they may have thought getting out of the country was the best thing to.

When they say "it lost part of an engine", which bit was actually left on the aircraft?

Looking at the blade hanging on that ladies wall I'd hazard a guess at a turbine disc letting go...not unusual if it's a GE CF6:\:8.

BTW looking at the foggy windshield of the car in Machaca's photo's, I wonder what that guy was doing when it was hit by the engine:}:}:}

I appreciate an aircraft can fly on just 2 engines but what about the change in C of G with such a large piece missing ?

It must have been trimming at the limit.

GYS

No idea what he was doing BEFORE the engine came down (good point, Paradise Lost, which part is left on the aircraft) but I bet ya I can guess what he did when the engine landed beside him.

Turbine disk failures have been very rare even in that machine

Turbine blade failures not nearly as rare in most machines.

The CF6 has had a number of events that look just like this (about 1 every two years)

there's one more picture
 

G1 - O Portal de Notícias da Globo - GALERIA DE FOTOS - Veja fotos de parte da turbina que caiu em Manaus

#4 in the set of 6 pictures isn't copied above

Look at the chunk out of the roof and wall of the house, you can see the engine was still moving sideways when it hit the ground.

Nice pictures, sort of looks like a shuttle "pod". Been through Manaus and Bogota many times. I want to say rwy 33L/R faces mountains and is usually landing / take off direction. Heavy engine out would suck, I don't see why they can't get a ferry permit back to KMIA, should not be a problem empty.

Never seen a CF-6 shear off a turbine section/tailcone. Must have been last few stages. They are known for spitting blades "coreing out".

According to an official statement, the tower contacted the crew after hearing a loud bang during the take-off. The crew denied any anormality. After being informed that parts of the engine from the plane were found, ACC contacted the crew once more. Only then they informed that they had shut down one engine.

:: FAB - Força Aérea Brasileira ::

If that is what the crew did, you don't get surprised at how some American airlines and their operators are considered in certain parts of the world...this is truly appalling!

http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...g/Arrow461.jpg


http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...g/Arrow444.jpg


http://i337.photobucket.com/albums/n...g/CF-6-50z.jpg


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Considering the distance, the high altitude landing at Bogota, and the alt landing spots (nil) in between, I would think it takes quite a pair to make the decision to continue after losing one out of Manaus...

Manaus is a fine place to bring an airplane back with an engine out.
And enjoy cold Brahma Lagers at the Tropical Resort Hotel in the discotheque.
Great food, congenial people. Visit the famous "Opera"...
One of the best places to visit in Brasil.
xxx
Sorry - I dont know if they have McDonald's there for US crews.
But with an engine out, Manaus is a good deal, rather than Bogota.
You can even dump fuel anywhere for landing, piranha fishes dont mind...
And I checked with the crocodiles' union, it's ok for them too.
xxx
:}
Happy contrails

Whats the fuss about?

The guys had a big set of balls :E

Leo

The following quote comes from a BBC report.

BBC NEWS | Americas | US aircraft parts fall on Brazil

So perhaps they didn't go to Bogota after all. Still amazes me that they elected to continue. :eek:

The average age of the Arrow Air´s DC-10s are 31,4 years,
Fleet age Arrow Air - Airfleets
So is this age related?

balls?
 

Oh yeah, these guys have balls allright.
Tower reporting bangs, vibrations (I imagine) and abnormal engine indications,
checklists calling for "land at nearest suitable airport", flight characteristics all shot to hell.
Next time it won't just be an engine you see falling from the air.
Oh yeah, these guys have balls allright. :}

Absolutely not!

Engine fail would be ok maybe , depending weight etc. but having structural damage ! ( if able to determine ) would make me turn around asap !:=

It's not only "balls"
 

The flight was registered as a non-revenue / no-cargo, but they were loaded alright. So it seems returning to Manaus would raise some inconvenient questions. :hmm:

They were loaded alright
 

Diver-BR Fairly 'loaded' accusation to make, even if you are in the 'know'. As for the decision to continue, if the aircraft handling was not impaired and the crew felt that continuing was the safe and the best commercial step to take, they have every right to do so. All the throwing of crap at them by those who were not there to make any assessment is premature and unfair. If as the company claimed the aircraft was a non-revenue/non cargo flight then the aircraft would be more than capable of continuing on two engines.

Old Fella
 

It's not my accusation, it's from a statement of the regional accident prevention and investigation service (SERIPA), the air force branch responsible for investigating this incident, and confirmed by the local manager of the company, with told the press that she was unable at the moment to inform the nature or weight of the cargo (but didn't denied that it was a revenue flight).

I take back my comment and will not judge the decision of continuing the flight, I'm in no way qualified to do that. But, based on information available at the brazilian air force site and several newspapers that:

1. The crew, contacted by the tower regarding a loud bang, informed them that everything was normal with the AC, and only informed about a problem with one of the engines after being contacted a second time and told that pieces of the engine were found on the ground.
2. They weren't authorized to transport revenue cargo in that flight, but they did it anyway, as confirmed by the company.

I am questioning is the professionalism of that operation - crew, company, and of course local authorities which most probably knew about the nature of the flight. I'll be the first to revise my opinion and apologise if new facts arise that may explain such curious event.

Regards.

<edited, removed the reference to engine shutdown, it is not known when they shut it down, before or after the first contact>

From the 2nd pic in post 19, it looks like it may be a shaft failure, similar to the 747 out of Guyaquil a few years back, rather than a turbine disk failure. There's a known failure mode in the CF6-50 series that was the cause of that one.

Looks like the most rearward LP turbine disc has come away and cut 360 degrees through the exhaust case, cutting the engine in 2, with the LPT bearing housing and jet pipe falling away. I'm not that familiar with the CF-6, but does the rear engine mount fit to the exhaust case?

If so the remains of the engine could have been hanging on the forward mount only!

I'd love to see some pictures of the remains of the engine on wing! Nasty failure, and glad to see that the aircraft landed OK.

RBT

Maybe they failed to notice it was the major part of the engine dropping off, and decided to go their merry way on what they had left.

Anyway, hitting 11 houses, there must have quite a bit of debris scattering around.

Manaus/Bogotá is a two and a half hour flight and part of it is over (very)high ground requiring contingency procedures for loss of pressurizaton/engine-out conditions. Besides the mountains there are always many thunderstorms making it even more complicate to be leveled at FL250-280 (what's the 1 engine out altitude capability?) Let's assume that such situation occurs during a take-off from an american field. Continuing ahead would probably be considered a violation and the pilots would have to face FAA/NTSB enforcement action. It appears that sometimes there are pilots that underestimate flying in this part of the world...:(

denkraai - you said the checklist calls for landing at the nearest suitable. Is that your opinion, or do you have a copy of the Arrows DC-10 ops specs?

Engine failure on a 3 or 4 engine a/c can leave the decision to divert up to the crew. If often depends upon the ops specs....and the Captain's emergency authority, but you guys know that.

Some CF6 models do, some do not. I think this was a CF6-50, which has its aft mounts FW of the LPT rotor assembly.

Quick!!! call Joe and his little dog Carlos. Arrow wants them back!:}:yuk:

Pboto of plane after landing in Medellín can be seen here:
26/03: Motor del DC-10 cayo sobre MANAUS

Shutdown when?
 

In earlier posts, which seem to have been either edited or removed, just when the engine was shutdown was questioned. By the look of the photographs I have seen I am sure the engine would have been shutdown immediately after the failure. It should have been obvious that a major failure had occurred and, given that the crew made the decision to continue and landed safely at Medellin, how can anyone reasonably question their actions when the engine failure occurred?

So is this the last complete engine failure of the central engine after Sioux City?
How many upgrades has been done to avoid the hydraulic pipes to be cut?
N526MD is 30 years old, first flight 31/1-1979.