© Rolls Royce Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) released the final report of its investigation into the uncontained engine...
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© Rolls Royce
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The accident occurred shortly after the four engined Airbus A380 aircraft took off from Singapore. At about 7,000 ft above Batam Island, the aircraft sustained an uncontained engine rotor failure (UERF) of the No. 2 Rolls Royce Trent 900 engine. Debris from the UERF impacted the aircraft, resulting in significant structural and systems damage.
The debris hit the aircraft’s left wing and fuselage, and onto Batam Island. There was significant damage to the aircraft’s electrical, hydraulic and other systems. The flight crew managed the situation and, after completing the required actions for the multitude of system failures, safely returned to and landed at Changi Airport, Singapore.
The ATSB found that the engine failure was the result of a fatigue crack in an oil feed pipe. The crack allowed the release of oil that resulted in an internal oil fire.The oil fire led to one of the engine’s turbine discs separating from the drive shaft. The disc then over-accelerated and broke apart, bursting through the engine casing and releasing other high energy debris.
The ATSB also found that the oil pipe, together with a number of similar pipes in other engines, had been made with a thin wall section and did not comply with the design specifications. The thin wall substantially increased the likelihood of fatigue cracking.
The ATSB worked closely with international regulators, Rolls-Royce and Airbus to ensure the continued safety of Trent 900-powered A380s. Early in the investigation, the ATSB issued a recommendation to Rolls-Royce about the manufacture of the oil feed stub pipes. As part of its final report, the ATSB issued recommendations to the European and US regulators so that lessons learned from this accident would be incorporated into aircraft certification advisory material designed to minimize hazards from uncontained engine failures.
As a result of the ATSB’s investigation, regulatory authorities and operators around the world took steps to ensure that engines with non-conforming oil feed stub pipes were identified and managed appropriately. Rolls-Royce also made changes to their quality assurance system to improve the way they manage non-conforming parts.
Rolls-Royce in a press release supported the conclusions of the ATSB.
