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[henryd]

just seen this on the news,lucky to get down in one piece
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11691543

[aaronjb]

"Mind that flock of birds"
"What flock of birds?"
"That flock of *bang*"

[henryd]

I don't think constipation will be a problem for any of the passengers for a few days

[aaronjb]

  That would be somewhat bowel evacuating, especially if you could see the problematic engine..

I like the quote, though: "It's a significant engine failure," Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said.

Just in case the burnt, smashed and somewhat destroyed engine casing didn't give it away

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Yes and apparently Quantus are grounding all Airbus 380s for detailed engine inspections.  No doubt Rolls Royce engineers will be swarming over this one!

[henryd]

I can't imagine the devastation if one of these should ever hit the ground,I saw one at the goodwood festival of speed a couple of years ago and its bloody enormous

[Nickbat]

Video from inside the cabin. Look at the rip on upper wing surface. 

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article8070445.ab

[wingman]

Engine failures these days are a very rare occurrence so I guess that RR engineers will be really concerned about this. Doesn't look like ingestion of debris caused failure as if that were the case main fan fairing would have contained damage caused by blades being destroyed. Looks as though failure was further back in engine, perhaps compressor blade fatigue failure? That said the 380 is fully capable of flying on 3 engines but I'm glad I wasn't onboard to test that!!

[mantahatch]

Never ever fly with Quantas, they are the only major airline to have never had a major crash. So they are well overdue one 

[Kevin Wood]

Engine failures these days are a very rare occurrence so I guess that RR engineers will be really concerned about this. Doesn't look like ingestion of debris caused failure as if that were the case main fan fairing would have contained damage caused by blades being destroyed. Looks as though failure was further back in engine, perhaps compressor blade fatigue failure? That said the 380 is fully capable of flying on 3 engines but I'm glad I wasn't onboard to test that!!

Yep. You can see that the engine has practically cut itself in half at the front of the turbine stages at a guess. I reckon one stage started shedding blades and it's completely taken out the adjacent section of turbine housing and the outer cowling. Jet engine equivalent of a "leg out of bed" so "significant engine failure" - I'd say so.

I'm sure RR will be very interested in what happened to the materials in that (the hottest) part of the engine.

Kevin

[wingman]

Yes if a blade or blades did detach or fail that would be a very grave concern for RR. The manufacture and fitting of these turbine blades is a highly technical process as shown on TV a few months ago but is technically no different on these Trent 300 engines than on other RR engines.

[aaronjb]

This was on the news in the lunch room and a colleague looks concerned and says "Maybe I should cancel that ticket to Japan.." - he's flying on a Lufthansa A380

Although they use "Engine Alliance" engines - which if you ask me, sounds like the name of some dodgy engine refurb place you'd find on eBay

[bluey]

I can't imagine the devastation if one of these should ever hit the ground,I saw one at the goodwood festival of speed a couple of years ago and its bloody enormous

What's even more worrying is how quiet it is.  When this plane made its maiden visit to heathrow I was working at an office directly under the flight path, and the sheer lack of noise as it flew at circa 1,000 feet was spooky. If you're going to be near a plane coming down, at least have the chance of hearing it coming!

[Chris_H]

I can't imagine the devastation if one of these should ever hit the ground,I saw one at the goodwood festival of speed a couple of years ago and its bloody enormous

What's even more worrying is how quiet it is.  When this plane made its maiden visit to heathrow I was working at an office directly under the flight path, and the sheer lack of noise as it flew at circa 1,000 feet was spooky. If you're going to be near a plane coming down, at least have the chance of hearing it coming!

I suspect that if it was throwing turbine blades you would hear a distinctive sound - a bit like a circus knife-throwers assistant hears!

[Lizzie_Zoom]

Well whatever the cause, it does seem that something ejected from the engine and existed through the wing.  The very thing that Rolls Royce try and avoid!!

This is an interesting piece of film on the RR A380 Arbus Trent engine test that demonstrates how the cowling shield should stop flying blades:

The testing starts from about 3.30 minutes

http://xo.typepad.com/blog/2009/02/a380-jet-engine-test.html