China Eastern Engine Failure

[Brian Noldt]

China Eastern departed Sydney last night and suffered an engine failure on take off.

Story from The Aviation Herald here:

http://avherald.com/h?article=4aa3276e&opt=0

And from News.com.au here:

http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/incidents/china-eastern-airlines-plane-forced-to-land-back-in-sydney-as-passengers-stranded/news-story/e7ddd31d8cbffedcdd9171124cca6a98

[Greg Hyde]

China Eastern Airlines plane forced back to Sydney after massive hole blown in engine

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-06-12/engine-hole-forces-china-eastern-plane-back-to-sydney/8609474

Pics and track

Un-contained engine failure or to quote the press "A bloody big hole"

[Brian Noldt]

2GB News at midday said " it crash landed at Sydney Airport"

[Brenden S]

The RR Trent A330's appear to be having these issues of late where the nose cowl is blowing out. There has been several of these incidents recently in the rest of the world. The engine certainly has not failed in anyway ie Fan blades.

[Philip Argy]

One theory is that water ingress of the honeycomb cowling wall followed by freezing/heating cycles may sufficiently weaken the cowling for it to implode during maximum negative pressure in front of the first stage turbine blades, such as you would expect during takeoff.

Another theory is FOD ingestion but the lack of apparent turbine blade damage seems to negate that.

Let's see what the ATSB has to say ...

[Greg Hyde]

ABC Radio News replayed the ATC conversation.

Failure was directly after rotation.
Crew suggested that ATC should check runway for debris.

Good work for all involved for getting a crippled bird back on the ground safe and sound.

[Philip Argy]

Cowling failure at that position would not normally result in engine failure unless ingested debris caused internal damage not visible in any of the photos. That would also suggest that the cowling imploded rather than exploded, unless there was some other FOD picked up off the runway that triggered a chain reaction.

[Greg Hyde]

Egyptair had a similar failure on the 15th of last month.

http://avherald.com/h?article=4a901212&opt=0

RR might have some warranty claims

[Philip Argy]

The Egypt Air one was apparently diagnosed as being triggered by delamination of the carbon skin inside the air intake. As soon a little bit of the lining separated, the rest from the segment in question is sucked into the intake a bit like a girl's hair being sucked into a spa intake. The weakened nacelle segment then implodes as a result of the high negative pressure, followed by an engine fault caused by ingestion of all the carbon fibre reinforced plastic from the cowling structure.

Last night's incident and the photographic evidence certainly seem consistent with it being another example of that phenomenon. I wonder if wet conditions are a contributing factor in such cases?

:eek:

[James Smith]

B-6099 the A332 involved in this incident has just departed Sydney as CES2000, presumably on ferry back to Shanghai.

Does anyone know if the complete left hand engine has been replaced or if the cowling has been temporarily repaired to enable the aircraft to ferry back to China?

[Andrew P]

the problem flight went over a neighbour's house [Pymble] who happened to be in the garden.

Said it sounded like a giant whipper sniper in the sky.

[James Smith]

That sound would be one engine working a lot harder than normal.

[Fred C]

The complete engine and nose cowl were replaced.