Rolls-Royce has ruled out any connection between the recent uncontained Trent 900 engine failure on a Qantas Airways Airbus A380 and an uncontained failure which occurred on a Trent 1000 in August on a test bed at the manufacturer's facility in Derby.
Rolls-Royce says it has "made progress in understanding the cause" of the 4 November incident, which occurred on a Qantas A380 en route from Singapore to Sydney, and has determined that "this incident is specific to the Trent 900 engine".
Checks and inspections are now being carried out with operators of Trent 900-powered A380s, which in addition to Qantas includes Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines.
"These are being progressively completed, which is allowing a resumption of operation of aircraft in full compliance with all safety standards," says Rolls-Royce.
"We can be certain that the separate Trent 1000 event which occurred in August 2010 on a test bed in Derby is unconnected," adds the manufacturer.
Rolls-Royce points out that last week's engine failure was "the first of its kind to occur on a large civil Rolls-Royce engine since 1994".
Qantas said earlier today that investigations had narrowed on an oil leakage in the turbine area of the engine.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
