QF 520 engine exploded on take off 34R YSSY. 8 November.

[flying dog]

 

[Underwood]

Did they not evacuate pax as soon as safely stopped?, appreciate its a balance between how much danger is perceived on leaving them onboard compared with possibility of injury on evac.

[flying dog]

Sorry, I have no more details than posted.

 

[Deano747]

Would have been an interesting half hour or so for the crew and fire crews.

Engine debris was contained in the cowling except for the bits that 'escaped' out the big round hole at the back.

Those escapees at upwards of 1,000 degrees C was what started the grass fire on the runway edge.

Why Sydney Airports Corporation safety department allowed the dry grass there to grow to knee length during our bushfire season will be a question for the ATSB.

As far as the evacuation decision - there was no subsequent aircraft damage, no engine fire as confirmed by the crew and fire department when they stopped at the upwind end of the runway for a visual check, so a taxi back to the gate was deemed to be the safest course of action.

If the engine was on fire then the decision would in all probability been a different one. 

Last time I had an engine that decided to morph into a different shape, my wingman reported that he heard the tinkle of turbine blades on his windscreen through his helmet shortly before he went IMC in the extinguisher cloud. He mentioned that also was interesting for a little bit.

They can escape with some force and glee to be free ....

 

As for the journalists story - he is a respected investigative journalist that has covered wars, famine etc around the world. The notion that "his blood ran cold" has likely been misquoted and probably written by someone who normally covers flower shows.

[facthunter]

As  a pilot when I travel and something goes awry all I hope for is that those up front do what they should  be adequately trained to do. THIS one happened at the most critical time but we all trained for such things at every Sim practice and renewal. IF you mucked it up  you're out of a job if you subsequently don't come up to scratch. Its  seems this crew did as they  were trained so it's a non event but it's not over till you are safe again. I've been "down the Back" when the crew had stuffed up big time but I doubt the ordinary passenger would have known what was going on and "Ignorance is Bliss". Statistically Civil Aviation, Particularly JET RPT (not charter which operates to much less stringent rules) Is VERY safe and has been for quite a while. It only takes ONE bad decision to change that though.    You'd have to wonder though with the grass fire how they would have handled the Plane on fire at the same time. Foreign object damage could have caused the turbine Blade(S) failure. Once one goes those downstream get mangled too,. It's usually CONTAINED as this one was. The location of the Engines on this type makes FOD a bit mor likely Than with some others. IF it's a flock of seagulls you can knock out multiple engines although they are supposed to take frozen chooks.  Nev

[Methusala]

Fair go Nev!  I expect the chooks are properly thawed before being thrown into the engine🤣🤣

Edited November 12 by Methusala

[facthunter]

Don't think so. The Fan blades have to handle lumps of Ice too.. The BIG ones at the front most of which is bypass...   Nev

[BrendAn]

On 12/11/2024 at 12:15 PM, facthunter said:

As  a pilot when I travel and something goes awry all I hope for is that those up front do what they should  be adequately trained to do. THIS one happened at the most critical time but we all trained for such things at every Sim practice and renewal. IF you mucked it up  you're out of a job if you subsequently don't come up to scratch. Its  seems this crew did as they  were trained so it's a non event but it's not over till you are safe again. I've been "down the Back" when the crew had stuffed up big time but I doubt the ordinary passenger would have known what was going on and "Ignorance is Bliss". Statistically Civil Aviation, Particularly JET RPT (not charter which operates to much less stringent rules) Is VERY safe and has been for quite a while. It only takes ONE bad decision to change that though.    You'd have to wonder though with the grass fire how they would have handled the Plane on fire at the same time. Foreign object damage could have caused the turbine Blade(S) failure. Once one goes those downstream get mangled too,. It's usually CONTAINED as this one was. The location of the Engines on this type makes FOD a bit mor likely Than with some others. IF it's a flock of seagulls you can knock out multiple engines although they are supposed to take frozen chooks.  Nev

what would the failure rate of modern jet engines  be, is it even large enough to measure.

Edited November 14 by BrendAn

[facthunter]

They are very good but FOD and large birds will take them out.   You might still get the odd bearing or turbine disc let go or a burner can burn through the side. They'd be something like 25 times better than pistons for reliability. At any one time there's a lot of planes in the air around the world.   Nev

[pmccarthy]

But did you see the baggage container ingested the other day?

 

[facthunter]

There wasn't a shred of evidence of that.  Nev