 The left inboard engine of the A380 showing the effects of the failure | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 4 November 2010 |
| Summary | Uncontained engine failure |
| Site | Over Batam Island, Indonesia 1°07′N 104°02′E / 1.11°N 104.04°E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Airbus A380-842 |
| Aircraft name | Nancy-Bird Walton |
| Operator | Qantas |
| IATA flight No. | QF32 |
| ICAO flight No. | QFA32 |
| Call sign | QANTAS 32 |
| Registration | VH-OQA |
| Flight origin | Heathrow Airport, London, United Kingdom |
| Stopover | Changi Airport, Singapore |
| Destination | Sydney Airport, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Occupants | 469 |
| Passengers | 440 |
| Crew | 29 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Survivors | 469 |
Qantas Flight 32 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from London to Sydney via Singapore. On 4 November 2010, the aircraft operating the route, an Airbus A380, suffered an uncontained failure in one of its four Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. The failure occurred over the Riau Islands, Indonesia, four minutes after takeoff from Singapore Changi Airport. After holding for almost two hours to assess the situation, the aircraft made a successful emergency landing at Changi. No injuries occurred to the passengers, crew, or people on the ground, despite debris from the aircraft falling onto houses in Batam.[1]
On inspection, a turbine disc in the aircraft's number-two engine (on the port side nearer the fuselage) was found to have disintegrated, causing extensive damage to the nacelle, wing, fuel system, landing gear, flight controls, and engine controls, and a fire in a fuel tank that self-extinguished. The subsequent investigation concluded that the failure had been caused by the breaking of a stub oil pipe, which had been manufactured improperly.[2]
The failure was the first of its kind for the A380, the world's largest passenger aircraft. At the time of the accident, 39 A380s were operating with five airlines: Qantas, Air France, Emirates, Lufthansa, and Singapore Airlines. The accident led to the temporary grounding of the rest of the six-plane Qantas A380 fleet.[3] It also led to groundings, inspections, and engine replacements on some other Rolls-Royce-powered A380s in service with Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, but not in the A380 fleets of Air France or Emirates, which were powered by Engine Alliance engines.
- ^ "Indonesians collect debris from Qantas plane engine". ABC News. 4 November 2010. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012.
- ^ "Aviation Safety Investigation Report 089 – In-flight uncontained engine failure Airbus A380-842, VH-OQA". Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Department of Transport and Regional Services, Government of Australia. Retrieved 4 July 2013. (Archive)
- ^ Koranyi, Balazs (23 November 2010). "Qantas plan to resume A380 flights eases Rolls woes". Reuters.com. Archived from the original on 9 February 2021. Retrieved 25 November 2010.