Australia's National Transportation Safety Boarded (ATSB) asked Indonesians today to forward to authorities any debris they may have accumulated from Thursday's uncontained engine failure on Qantas Airways flight QF32.
The number two engine on the A380 experienced an uncontained failure after departing Singapore for Sydney. Debris from the failure fell over Batam Island in Indonesia.
In particular the ATSB wants to retrieve the missing half of the number two engine's geared disk. Approximately one half of the disk has already been found, ATSB photos indicate.
"The recovery of that disk could be crucial to a full understanding of the nature of the engine failure, and may have implications for the prevention of future similar occurrences," the ATSB says.
"The ATSB has requested any residents of Batam Island... to forward those items to the local police for retention," it adds.
The recovered half of the A380 engine disk © ATSB
Yesterday Qantas general manager David Epstein confirmed the aircraft, VH-OQA, likely lost its engine disk, as local photos from Indonesia indicated. Qantas did not have access to the debris.
"There doesn't appear to be a disk there at the moment. Virtually that entire area, the intermediate chamber of the engine, has disappeared," Epstein said yesterday.
He also said it was only recently the Indonesian police "secure[d] custody of just about everything they found".
The Indonesian Transportation Safety Committee has helped the ATSB recover an unspecified number of items, which arrived in Singapore yesterday, the ATSB says.
Additionally one undisclosed engine component is being prepared for transfer to Rolls-Royce in the United Kingdom for inspection.
"On arrival in the United Kingdom, that item will be examined by the engine manufacturer and other expert parties under the supervision of ATSB investigators," the ATSB says.
ATSB investigators will depart Australia today for the UK to oversee the inspection of the component, the agency says. Additional investigators will leave for Singapore, where the damaged A380 engine is being prepared for removal from the aircraft.
"Once removed from the aircraft, the engine will be transported to an appropriate engineering facility for disassembly and technical examination," the ATSB says.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
