An engine fireplace on a Cathay Pacific Airbus A350 earlier this month was the results of a gasoline leak and will have prompted in depth harm to the airplane, in line with investigators.
Hong Kong’s flagship airline grounded planes after being compelled to show a flight round a few weeks in the past due to an “engine part failure”.
The Trent XWB-97 engine was made by British engineering big Rolls-Royce.
A preliminary report by Hong Kong’s Air Accident Investigation Authority (AAIA) stated the incident was brought on by a damaged gasoline hose – considered one of a quantity that had been broken.
Rolls-Royce and Cathay Pacific have been contacted for remark.
The incident occurred shortly after the airplane had taken off from Hong Kong en path to Zurich in early September. The pilots acquired a fireplace warning within the cockpit, shut down the engine and deployed fireplace extinguishers.
The plane, which was carrying 348 passengers and crew, landed safely again in Hong Kong.
However the incident raised considerations over the protection of the engines used throughout Cathay Pacific’s A350 fleet, notably after checks revealed points on one other 15 plane.
The preliminary report discovered that the protecting encompass of a gasoline hose had ruptured, leaving “a discernible gap within the hose”. There have been indicators of a fireplace in components of the engine, together with soot and burn marks.
Additional checks revealed one other 5 gasoline hoses in the identical engine had been additionally faulty.
If not promptly detected and addressed, the report said, this example might have escalated “right into a extra critical engine fireplace, probably inflicting in depth harm to the plane.”
To handle the issue, the AAIA really helpful that the European Union Aviation Security Company (EASA) require Rolls-Royce to develop new inspection necessities for the related engines.
EASA issued an “Emergency Airworthiness Directive” days after the incident. It required operators utilizing the identical kind of engine to hold out inspections of gasoline pipes, and take away any that had been ‘probably compromised’.
Cathay Pacific took supply of its first Airbus A350 in 2016. The plane is quickly changing into a mainstay of airways’ long-haul fleets all over the world. Its major promoting level is its excessive effectivity and low working prices.
A key a part of that effectivity is the engine. The Trent XWB was developed by Rolls-Royce particularly for the A350. The incident initially raised considerations that there may very well be a major problem affecting the worldwide A350 fleet. That will have been a serious setback for the British producer.
Nonetheless, it quickly grew to become obvious that the difficulty didn’t have an effect on the working components throughout the engine itself, however somewhat gasoline traces on the surface. That meant the issue may very well be rectified comparatively rapidly, with out an costly redesign.
It additionally solely affected the XWB-97, a excessive energy variant of the engine that was fitted to a comparatively restricted variety of long-range plane.
This yr, Rolls-Royce introduced plans to take a position closely to enhance its vary of engines, together with the Trent XWB-97.
In 2023, Tim Clark, the boss of gulf service Emirates, voiced considerations in regards to the sturdiness of the engine and the costs Rolls-Royce charged for upkeep.
