Cathay Pacific Airbus fault may have induced main harm, says report | EUROtoday

An engine fireplace on a Cathay Pacific Airbus A350 earlier this month was the results of a gasoline leak and will have induced intensive harm to the airplane, based on investigators.

Hong Kong’s flagship airline grounded planes after being pressured to show a flight round a few weeks in the past due to an “engine component 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 attributable to 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 obtained a hearth 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.

But the incident raised considerations over the security 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 hole in the hose”. There had been indicators of a hearth in elements of the engine, together with soot and burn marks.

Further checks revealed one other 5 gasoline hoses in the identical engine had been additionally faulty.

If not promptly detected and addressed, the report statedthis example may have escalated “into a more serious engine fire, potentially causing extensive damage to the aircraft.”

To tackle the issue, the AAIA advisable that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (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 sort 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 turning into a mainstay of airways’ long-haul fleets world wide. Its important promoting level is its excessive effectivity and low operating 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 significant issue affecting the worldwide A350 fleet. That would have been a significant setback for the British producer.

However, it quickly turned obvious that the difficulty didn’t have an effect on the operating elements throughout the engine itself, however quite gasoline strains 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 speculate closely to enhance its vary of engines, together with the Trent XWB-97.

In 2023, Tim Clark, the boss of gulf provider Emirates, voiced considerations in regards to the sturdiness of the engine and the costs Rolls-Royce charged for upkeep.