ATSB Recommends New Trent 900 Inspections

Australian safety regulators say operators of Airbus A380s powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines should conduct a fresh round of engine inspections due to the discovery of a potential flaw in an oil feed pipe. The latest recommendation was prompted by new discoveries during the examination of the Trent 900 that suffered an uncontained failure during a Qantas flight from Singapore on Nov. 4. The discovery of the oil pipe problem “appears to provide a more definitive explanation for the [Nov. 4] engine failure,” Qantas says. According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, experts at a Rolls-Royce facility in the U.K. found fatigue cracking within a stub pipe that feeds oil into the high pressure/intermediate pressure bearing structure. This was caused by misaligned counter-boring within the pipe during the manufacturing process, which resulted in thinning of the pipe wall. The ATSB says the thinning pipe wall could lead to “an elevated risk of fatigue crack initiation and growth, oil leakage and potential catastrophic engine failure from a resulting oil fire.” It was already known that an oil fire was the likely root cause of the original Qantas engine failure. This new finding and resulting recommendation was issued just a day before the ATSB is due to release its preliminary report on the Nov. 4 uncontained failure. Qantas grounded all of its six A380s straight after the incident, and has since returned two to service. Engine inspections have already required the replacement of a number of A380 engines. Qantas says it will now conduct “further, more detailed one-off inspections” of its Trent 900s due to the ATSB warning and discussions with Rolls. The ATSB recommends that the new inspections be conducted within two flight cycles, compared to the 20-cycle inspection requirement issued earlier by EASA. The carrier says its two operational A380s will be inspected at the Qantas Jet Base in Sydney on the afternoon of Dec. 2 (local time). So far, Qantas does not believe that the inspections will lead to more international disruptions, although it notes that contingencies will be put in place just in case. Separately, Qantas says it has begun talks with Rolls-Royce regarding compensation for the cost involved in the A380 groundings. The airline says it will “also consider legal options.” With this in mind, Qantas has filed a statement of claim with the Federal Court of Australia, which will ensure it can pursue legal action against Rolls “if a commercial settlement is not possible.”