EASA issues emergency AD on Trent engines following Qantas A380 engine failure

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) for Rolls Royce RB211 Trent 900 series engines following a recent incident involving  such an engine on a Qantas A380.

The incident happened on November 4, 2010 when engine nr 2. on a Qantas Airbus A380, VH-OQA, suffered an uncontained failure shortly after takeoff from Singapore.

Analysis of the preliminary elements from the incident investigation shows that an oil fire in the HP/IP structure cavity may have caused the failure of the Intermediate Pressure Turbine (IPT) Disc.

This condition, if not detected, could ultimately result in uncontained engine failure potentially leading to damage to the aeroplane and hazards to persons or property on the ground.

For these reasons and pending conclusion of the incident investigation, the AD requires repetitive inspections of the Low Pressure Turbine (LPT) stage 1 blades and case drain, HP/IP structure air buffer cavity and oil service tubes in order to detect any abnormal oil leakage, and if any discrepancy is found, to prohibit further engine operation.

 

Note: This emergency AD was superseded by a EAD 2010-0242-E on November 22:  http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/easa_ad_2010_0242_E.pdf

 

Transport Canada issues emergency AD on RegionalJet landing gear extension problems

Transport Canada issued an emergency airworthiness directive (EAD CF-2010-36) for several models of the Canadair / Bombardier RegionalJet following main landing gear extension problems.

Transport Canada reports two cases of main landing gear (MLG) failure to fully extend on CRJ aircraft.  Preliminary investigation has shown that interference between the MLG door and the MLG fairing seal prevented the MLG door from opening. This directive mandates the inspection and rectification, as required, of the MLG fairing and seal, MLG door, and adjacent structures.

Affected are the following models:

• CL-600-2C10 (CRJ-700 series), serial numbers 10003 and subsequent
• CL-600-2D15 (CRJ-705 series)
• CL-600-2D24 (CRJ-900 series), serial number 15001 and subsequent

The AD does not specify the two occurrences, but one of those was probably an incident that occurred on September 25, 2010 involving an Atlantic Southeast Airlines CRJ-900. The airplane landed on at New York-JFK with the right MLG fully retracted.