Air New Zealand 767 uncontained engine failure at BNE
 

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

Here's some close up pics.

http://www.members.optushome.com.au/vhrmm/nz767/index

Ouch!
 

Interesting photo of the rear turbine wheel - not a blade in sight!
Looks pretty serious and as I regularly trust my life to a pair of GE's more than a little worrying.........

Question ?
 

Eehrm... how come that I see on the pictures provided by SMOC's link a date that says : 4-2-1999 ???

:confused: :confused: :confused:

Don't get excited:he has not set yhe ddmmyy on his digital cam.

What's a bit concerning is the recent high frequency of engineering incidents on Air NZ aircraft. (2 engine failures - 747-400 LHR-LAX plus this one - and a number of "bits falling off" as the papers phrase it)
Safety shouldn't be a factor in carrier selection, but I'll admit to having it in the back of my mind at the moment. The ETOPS comment is a relevant one

Thanks much for the pictures.

Definitely more than just blades, but thankfully less than a rotor disk, looks like a rotating seal spacer in the turbine that goes between rotor disks.

There have been several others in both GE and P&W engines and none have seriously disabled an aircraft.

No doubt a corrective action will follow shortly and everything will be back to normal.

And why would the passengers have been held on a damaged plane for an hour? I'd think they'd want them off asap.

Bubbette

Would that 1 hour wait be included to make sure that the meals get eaten. Don't want all that lovely airline food going to waste now do we!!!

Hi all,
Hey, Im just wonderous at the police in Brisbane closing off the access road to and from the Domestic and International terminals, what a gigantic, I say again, gigantic overkill.

I know they are responsible for the safety of the public, but really!!
Cheers

Until the aircraft was back on the ground and the cause of the 'explosion' became obvious I suspect the police may have been treating it as a possible terrorist incident for which they have a set plan of actions?

its official. its a conspiracy. two of my posts have now been deleted from this thread. what gives ?

did anybody save the pictures of SMOC's post and could send them to me?

thanks

uncontained engine failure is rare in a modern airliner
 

Err....don't forget the Emirates 777 blew a donk on take off at YMML.:rolleyes:

Flight Detent, I would assume that "access road" refers to the road inside the airport perimeters - the one used by catering, re-fuelling, etc type vehicles, vs the external public road.

Probably to allow unimpeded accesss for Emergency Services vehicles, had the stuff hit the fan in a BIG way.

In any case, even if it were the public road, so what?
The airport was going to be closed to all departures and landings for an indetermined time until the Air New Zealand 767 and occupants had been cleared.

Just heard from a mate who's a LAME at Brisbane that both N1 and N2 had broken shafts.

As far as I am aware there was no Emirates engine failure in Melbourne.
A passanger looked out of the window and saw what he thought was a fire from the engine, in fact it was a piece of red seal flapping in the breeze.

Are you being serious? It was an RTO after an uncontained failure on a 777. Fuse was punctured. Bits of engine all over the place. Aw well, never mind :confused:

I think if you do a search on Fan Belt Breaks in the locals you will find it.

Thanks guys, I stand corrected !!
Well I am printing the report out now, we never got that thru our in house safety mag.
I am sure though that there was also the flapping seal reported in the press resulting in an air turn back, memory is going .:(