BA engine trouble

You jus know they are going to blame the mechanic !!

Incident: British Airways A319 near London on May 24th 2013, problems with both engines, doors on both engines missing

 

Well I don't think we can blame that one on the baggage smashers now can we?

 

Lots of talk about the cowl latches being loose and causing the failure. No talk about the explosion that blew everything open and started a fire. Strange.

 

It's a scarebus, what do you expect?

 

I just love it when they say "Should be good to go," sign the log then walk off the airplane. I think they should have to ride with us after they wrench...

 

V. strange that it was both cowlings... either a total screwup of deliberate...

 

After the annual on my plane, I always take the mechanic along for the check ride.

Art

 

Depends on what caused it, if they went through a flock of birds it's entirely reasonable that both engines could have taken a few and suffered varying degrees of damage. I have hit birds probably a couple dozen times and it's not at all surprising to discover additional strikes. Two weeks ago took a bird to the windscreen and upon landing maintanance found another four hits on various places. On the other hand careless maintenance usually isn't a one time event, if they forgot to latch the panels on one side who would expect them to get the other?

 

I second that emotion.........

 

Are we still outsourcing our repairs and such to South America for these planes?

Last I heard they were not even providing manuals in Spanish let alone having FAA inspect them while in the SA shops.

google that.

 

Have a link???? So you're saying that it's one of the Spanish-speaking countries in South America?

Google of British Airways shows their maintenance is done in England it looks like.

 

BA have several maintenance facilities around England, including one at Heathrow, plus I don't think flying a A319 to South America for an oil change saves much in either time or money, but I could be wrong

 

Here's the "official" report.

Doors unlatched, separated, ruptured fuel line, etc.

Happened 32 times on airbus planes last year... what????


"Share0Print......LONDON (AP) — A British Airways jet that made an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport last week lost panels from both its engines after they were left unlatched during maintenance, accident investigators said Friday.

In an initial report on the incident, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said the unlatched fan cowl doors weren't noticed before the Airbus A319-131 took off.

The covers detached as the plane climbed, damaging the airframe and some aircraft systems and rupturing a fuel pipe on the plane's right engine, which developed an external fire. The pilots managed to land the plane on one engine.

Britain's Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, said the report contained "serious findings" and called on the industry to act to ensure safety.

"Airline passengers have the right to expect to travel safely and it is the responsibility of all involved in aviation to make sure that happens," he said.

Britain's busiest airport was briefly closed May 24 after the Oslo-bound flight made the emergency landing.

TV footage showed smoke streaming from one of the engines. The 80 passengers and crew were evacuated without serious injuries, and fire crews quickly put out the blaze.

The report said that in 2012 Airbus had reported 32 cases in which fan cowl doors became detached, usually during takeoff, but none of the incidents up to that point had caused an engine fire.

Investigators said the BA incident "has shown that the consequences of fan cowl door detachment are unpredictable and can present a greater risk to flight safety than previously experienced."

The report recommended Airbus stress to airlines the importance of ensuring the doors were latched before takeoff.

BA said it had already acted to implement the recommendation.

It said it could not comment further on the incident while the investigation continued.

"We commend the professionalism of the flight crew for the safe landing of the plane and the cabin crew and pilots for its safe evacuation," said BA chief executive Keith Williams.

"We continue to offer our full support to those customers who were onboard the flight."




It happened 32 times on airbus planes last year... that's terrible....

 

Someone needs to be TOLD this !! Holy crap, isn't this what a pre-flight is for !

I hope I don't need to be reminded the importance of putting brake pads on when I change the discs !!

 

It happened again yesterday on a Easyjet A320 with CFM engines in Milan.

Incident: Easyjet A320 at Milan on Aug 12th 2013, engine doors torn off

 

Are we smelling a design flaw with the latches failing after multiple use cycles ?

 

What happened to looking at things like that on the preflight?

 

Possibly. Fer sure, they're gonna be examined a lot more closely for a while..... BA has a pretty good maintenance record, so I doubt it was ****ty mechanics (?)

Would you see anything amiss on a walk round I wonder?

Cheers,
Ian

 

It depends. If they are all undone, then I would think so. If it's only one or two on the top then probably not. However, one or two shouldn't result in the cowling being torn off.

 

I thought that myself, obviously I don't know what kind of fasteners they are using but if its the kind that turn half, or quarter of a turn into a spring retainer, I seen hundreds of those stressed or bent because it wasn't lined up right when it was turned or it was just over torqued. From the front the fastener looks fine but when its put under load and stress it 'Pops" off/open.

Locks of this style
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Ah, for the good ol' " Messerschmit latch" .

 

In an automotive application I would 100% agree, however once you add high speed air flow "under" a panel which trying to blow it off, with all the vibrations and stresses I could see them failing one by one.
Of course at I would hope they are tested to beyond fail point at the factory before being put to use. This is of course just pure speculation on my part.

 

But if it were purely materials or construction failure - would they BOTH let go at one time?

I still suspect some mechanic's error on the ground.

 

The push and twist Dzus type latch fastener has always been subject to misuse and a lack of positive operation and can give one the impression that it was locked when it wasn't. WW2 saw the discovery of the German type of over-center hook and lock latch that was soon adapted by the allies like the "Jerry Can". The problem with that was the exposed and now draggy tub into which the mechanism retracted. For so many engine cowlings to come lose, I have to suspect the latch design as well as sloppy use. I don't recall any Boeing cowlings coming lose.
I'm reminded of a comment made by an old DC-2 pilot who, after examining my painting of one, said, " I noticed that you showed the 1/4 inch cable in the trough that was wrapped around the cowling. Kind of crude but I never heard of any cowlings coming loose on those airplanes."