Qantas : QF : QFA

Embattled Australian carrier Qantas Friday diverted one of its superjumbo A380 planes to Dubai after it developed an engine problem, a spokeswoman said.


Qantas flight 31 from Singapore to London was carrying 258 passengers, four pilots and 21 cabin crew when it was forced to change course. It landed in the United Arab Emirates early Friday.

"QF31 Singapore to London has diverted to Dubai this morning following an issue with the aircraft number four engine," the spokeswoman told AFP, adding there were no further details currently available.

"In line with standard operating procedures the engine was shut down and the aircraft is expected to land without further incident."

Qantas A380 diverted after Trent 900 engine oil problem

A Qantas Airways Airbus A380 on the Singapore-London route was forced to divert to Dubai after an oil-related problem caused a shutdown of its number four engine.

Ninety minutes after takeoff from Singapore, the crew of QF31 detected "an engine oil quantity defect" in one of the A380's Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines and shut it down, said Qantas.

The aircraft departed Changi airport at about 00:53 on 4 November, according to the airport's website.

It diverted to Dubai where it landed without further incident.

Qantas said the aircraft had 258 passengers and 25 crew aboard, all of whom disembarked safely.

Qantas was unable to provide the aircraft's registration number. It said engineers in Dubai are inspecting the aircraft.

This is not the first time Qantas has experienced oil-related issues with the Trent 900.

An oil leak in a Trent 900 engine was identified as the cause behind a partial power loss on a Qantas Airbus A380 this February.

The leak, which led to a gradual decrease in oil quantity in the number four engine, prompted the aircraft's flight crew to reduce the powerplant to idle thrust during a Singapore-London flight on 15 February. The aircraft, registration VH-OQC, did not experience a further oil level variation during the rest of the flight.

Inspections after the incident showed that there was an oil leak from an external high pressure/intermediate pressure (HP/IP) oil tube at its connection to the engine case, said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).

In November 2010, a fault in a Trent 900 oil feed tube caused the number two engine of a Qantas A380 to suffer an uncontained failure, resulting in an emergency landing in Singapore.

The incident prompted Rolls-Royce to remove 53 Trent 900 engines from service.

On 18 May, the ATSB said the engines were removed because of concerns over the wall thickness of the engines' oil feed pipes.

Investigations into the uncontained engine failure have so far showed that it was caused by a manufacturing defect in an oil feed pipe, which caused a section of the pipe to thin and subsequently crack. The crack led to an oil leak and internal oil fire that weakened the engine's IP turbine disk, which separated from the turbine shaft and punctured the engine case and wing structure.

An engine fault forced a Qantas Airways A380 bound for London to divert to Dubai on Friday, exactly a year since a mid-air engine blowout prompted the Australian airline to ground its entire fleet of A380 superjumbos for nearly a month.

The Airbus aircraft had an "oil quantity defect" in one engine which was switched off according to standard procedure, a Qantas spokeswoman in Sydney said, adding Qantas engineers would investigate the problem.

The airline said in a letter distributed to passengers and posted on xxxxx by Fry that engineers would take a number of hours to conduct "mandatory inspections".

"Qantas... have said they shut down the engine to check oil and that there was no explosion," a source familiar with events said.

Referring to the latest incident and the engine explosion a year ago Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth said: "The two issues are completely unrelated. This is a one-off and we will look to get the aircraft back in the skies as soon as possible."

Airbus spokesman Sean Lee said in an email to reporters: "We are aware that an A380 operated by Qantas diverted to Dubai as a precautionary measure. We are working with the airline to look into this matter."

A Rolls-Royce spokesman said the company was aware of the incident and was working closely with Qantas to provide appropriate support and technical assistance.

The latest incident follows a series of setbacks for Qantas, which is emerging from the grounding of its entire fleet over the weekend in a long-running and costly dispute.

The weekend shutdown stranded tens of thousands of passengers but succeeded in forcing the government and the nation's industrial tribunal to intervene and ban all further strikes at Qantas.
(Reuters)

The chairman of Australian airline Qantas Friday backed the embattled chief executive who caused a two-day shutdown of the carrier, saying he liked the way Alan Joyce led.
2011 AFP

Qantas set to drop Asian carrier plans-report

Nov 28 (Reuters) - Australia's Qantas Airways is set to shelve plans for a new premium airline in Asia as global economic turmoil shakes management confidence in the project, the Australian Financial review reported without citing any sources.

The paper said that after spending a year putting together the plans for an up to A$500 million ($488 million) investment in the Asian unit, Qantas now favours a code share alliance with Malaysian Airline Systems Bhd.

The Asian carrier plan was aimed at using the region's low cost workforce to turnaround Qantas' loss-making international operations but sparked an union backlash.

Qantas felt the investment in the Asian airline would not sit well with the ratings agencies and its investment grade rating, the paper said. Qantas is the only airline globally with the investment grade rating.

Qantas and Malaysian Airlines are working towards a letter of intent in coming weeks on a code-sharing that would allow joint pricing, marketing and scheduling to begin about six to nine months after the agreement, the paper said.

Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce flew to Singapore last week for talks with Tony Fernandes, chief executive of Air Asia , which owns 20 percent of Malaysian Airlines. He then flew to Kuala Lumpur to thrash out the details of the proposed alliance, the paper said citing sources.

Qantas officials could not immediately be reached for comment by telephone or email.

The Asian carrier plan was one of the reasons for strikes by parts of the workforce. Strikes led to Qantas grounding its entire fleet last month in a drastic move aimed at ending union action.

That sparked a government intervention and involvement of Australia's industrial umpire, which gave the warring parties 21 days to resolve differences or submit to binding arbitration. The parties have since moved to arbitration. ($1 = 1.0253 Australian dollars)

The Transport Workers' Union (TWU) confirmed on 24 November that it will not appeal Fair Work Australia's (FWA) decision that no industrial action can be taken by parties involved in the Qantas Airways industrial dispute during the negotiation and arbitration periods.

The union had on Monday, after not being able to reach an agreement with Qantas during the 21-day negotiation window, said it will consider whether to challenge FWA's decision.

The union is now likely to put its support behind the Australian and International Pilots Association's (AIPA) planned court appeal challenging the FWA's ruling.

TWU's decision prompted a statement from Qantas, reassuring customers that they can now book flights with the airline without fear of further strikes.

"The FWA ruling means that these three unions are unable to take industrial action for the upcoming period of arbitration and for the period of the EBA [Enterprise Bargaining Agreement] determination by Fair Work Australia - which could be up to four years," said airline spokeswoman Olivia Wirth.

She added that FWA is holding direction hearings for arbitration between Qantas and TWU and Qantas and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association on 24 November.

The date for the hearing between Qantas and the AIPA has not been set.

Wirth also dismissed reports that Qantas's CEO Alan Joyce had declined to appear before the senate.

The Australian media had on 24 November said Joyce turned down an invitation to face questions at the senate inquiry into the Qantas Sale Act on the same day.

"Mr Joyce has agreed to appear before the committee again. He is overseas on business and we are working with the committee on suitable dates which he can appear, " said Wirth.

She added: "Mr Joyce will explain to senators just how damaging the proposed amendments being considered by the committee would be to Qantas, the Australian aviation industry and all Australian businesses."

On Monday, Qantas had announced that the airline's negotiations with all three unions representing pilots, engineers and ground staff have broken down and that the cases will all be heading for arbitration.

AIPA and TWU sought a 21-day extension to negotiations but were turned down by the airline.

The unions said the carrier had preferred "the drawn-out process of arbitration".

The deadline for the carrier and unions to resolve their disputes was 21 November. With no agreement reached, under orders issued by FWA, binding arbitration will take place under its control.

FWA stepped in after the Oneworld member grounded all its domestic and international operations on 29 October in protest of the then ongoing industrial action. Over 447 flights were cancelled, affecting 68,000 passengers.

Qantas (QF) has confirmed to ATW that about 150 of its 2,000 pilots have taken unpaid leave after it reduced services to cut losses on unprofitable international operations ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]).

The airline has allowed pilots to take unpaid leave since the 2008 financial crisis so they can work for overseas airlines such as Emirates.

According to Bloomberg, the VP of Australian & International Pilots Assn. Richard Woodward believes the number on leave will reach 500 by 2015.

“Our young guys are voting with their feet,” Woodward said. “Because of retrenchment and downsizing, they’re going directly to our competitors, which will exacerbate our problems.”

Fair Work Australia is arbitrating a new labor contract between QF and its pilots ([Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien]).

Qantas is yet to seek CASA approval for its plans to resume A380 flights between Los Angeles and Australia on or about January 17.

It has final submissions from engine maker Rolls-Royce on the suitability of using its Trent 900 engines at a full 72,000 lbs thrust rating from LAX, but is still going over them in fine detail.

However behind the scenes there are even more serious matters in motion, starting with doubts about the credibility of EASA, the European Aviation Safety Agency, which certified the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 suite of engines for use on the giant Airbus, (the alternative being the US Engine Alliance suite made by a joint venture between GE and Pratt & Whitney).

It is obvious from the number of faulty engines now detected among the RR Trent 900 inventory that the engine had issues that EASA should have identified and acted upon in the certification testing.

EASA by definition failed in its obligations by certifying an engine so seriously compromised that it nearly caused massive loss of life on November 4, [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] on the A380 operating QF 32 shortly after it left Singapore for Sydney, putting all 469 persons onboard in grave peril.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce and his management team had the grim and grueling task of trying to monitor the stricken jet for almost two hours before it successfully landed back at Changi Airport, all the time faced with the possibility that the A380 and those onboard would be lost.

This is not however the only reason it has taken Qantas so long to settle on a re-start date for the trans Pacific flights, which unlike the Sydney-Singapore-London flights which resumed on November 28, require the engines to operate at a higher thrust level in order to depart LAX with a commercial payload.

Qantas has substantial information about Rolls-Royce’s performance in hyping the engine, in claiming that it was based extensively on the proven excellence of earlier Trent family designs, and in its astonishing failure to communicate a series of modifications made to newer versions of the engine.

Je ne fais pas cette remarque pour faire que RR puisse "se prévaloir de ses propres turpitudes". Non !

Mais c'est pour dire que le "minuscules modifications" résultant des "modifications de process", qui font obligatoirement partie du paysage pendant les phases de "ramp-up" de la production d'un nouvel avion et d'un nouveau moteur, sont la norme, et ne nécessitent absolument pas d'être libellées comme des "modifications fondamentales", et encore moins des modifications engendrant obligatoirement une certification séparée. Si Ben SANDILANDS ne sait pas cela, il faut qu'il aille suivre les formations adéquates, avant de taper dans le clavier pour écrire n'importe quoi.

Même dans les cas les plus importants ou significatifs, elles sont traitées par des AD !

Et toute la planète sait que l'AD émis dans le sillage de cet incident regrettable, du RR Trent 900 sur l'A380 de Qantas, n'était même pas un AD de modification, mais un AD d'inspections. Le moteur n'avait aucun défaut fondamental de conception ou de "design". Alan JOYCE aurait reçu l'interdiction formelle de ses avocats de répéter l'ânerie qu'il avait dite (dans ce sens).

"Blether" Ben SANDILANDS ne va tout de même pas recommencer le thème, là où la procédure légale l'a jeté ?

Visiblement, "Blether" Ben ne comprend pas ces choses. Il devrait aller suivre des formations adaptées. Surtout, il ne devrait pas balancer ses bobards, dans le but de faire passer ses idées fausses et infondées, pour les faire "attraper" par les ignares (sur le sujet, s'entend, .... tels les "Usual SuspectS" et ADCCCDG) comme des idées reçues, qui sont, ensuite, véhiculées sottement, notamment sur les réseaux sociaux.

The intensity with which Qantas has pursued detailed technical explanations and assurances from Rolls-Royce that it can now resume using Trent 900 engines with 72,000 lbs thrust available rather than the usual 70,000 lbs per unit has not been based on accepting the manufacturer’s words, but in making it prove what it claims to be the situation with the latest C series engines to the satisfaction of its engineers and technical advisers.

The groundings have cost Qantas an appalling but undisclosed amount in lost business and alternative arrangements, but it is spending the money determined to retrieve all of it from Rolls-Royce.

Consider this. Rolls-Royce was providing engines that Airbus was hanging on new partly finished A380s that incorporated the latest modifications, which in one disclosure it claimed had nothing to do with specific deficiencies in the earlier versions that caused the QF32 incident, without replacing those earlier versions which were regularly flying hundreds of passengers at a time on a multi daily basis for Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa and Qantas.

What sort of dark logic was at work here? Were they gambling that nothing would happen before they made the modular changes as routine upgrades at a time that suited them? Rolls-Royce has simultaneously claimed that the module changes in the C series engines will prevent a repeat of the QF32 incident, but that the changes were not a response to the known problems that were to manifest themselves on that flight.

Rolls-Royce didn’t even turn up in the Federal Court to defend itself when Qantas successfully took out an injunction and filed a preliminary statement of claim against them two months ago.

• selon le droit australien et les règles des procédures judiciaires australiennes, dans un cas tel que celui-ci, où l'approche est de chercher un "settlement out of court" / 'règlement à l'amiable, hors tribunal ',
  
• si, avant le début des discussions et négociations entre les parties, destinées à générer le "settlement out of court" précité , la partie lésée, et cherchant réparation, omet de déposer au préalable, une plainte formelle, auprès du Tribunal Compétent,
  
• en intentant, dans le cadre d'une procédure spécifique, une action / un 'procès pro forma', contre la partie dite "responsable", c'est-à-dire un procès 'suspendu', non encore déclenché, mais destiné à être déclenché au cas où les discussions & négociations ne produiraient pas un résultat satisfaisant pour la partie lésée, et /ou les parties ensemble,
  
• cette omission priverait totalement la partie lésée (ici : Qantas) de la possibilité d'avoir un recours contre la partie responsable (ici : RR), via les Tribunaux !
  

QF32 was only saved by an element of luck as to where the wing rather than the pressurized cabin was pierced by debris, and by the calm and methodological response of the experienced Qantas pilots on board to a situation never envisaged in any of their training exercises.

Yet according to both Qantas, and Airbus, Rolls-Royce kept them uninformed as to the detail of the changes it saw fit to make on new A380s, but not those in service before the QF32 incident.

Which raises of course, another question as to how Airbus could have failed as the manufacturer to scrutinize everything that Rolls-Royce was doing to such a critical part of their product? Whatever that explanation, Airbus is also officially making claims for compensation for production disruption against Rolls-Royce.

Et Ben SANDILANDS ne voit pas cela ? Ou cherche-t-il exprès à tromper son moinde ? Dans l'un cas comme dans l'autre, ..... où est sa crédibilité ! Et il y a des lecteurs qui gobent ce qu'il écrit ? Vraiment ?

Now consider the position of the ATSB and the investigation it leads, with help from EASA and Airbus among others, into the incident.

In its [Vous devez être inscrit et connecté pour voir ce lien] the ATSB points to a manufacturing defect in a pipe recovered from the disintegrated engine which appears to be a prime cause of the failure, and which has been found in other engines, some of which have been used in flight, and in others yet to fly.

However as the ATSB cautions, these findings may change in the light of subsequent inquires, and Qantas is I believe...

....In possession of information which suggests that other contributing factors were the consequences of acoustic or vibration related damage causing the failure of components that were designed too light for the stresses placed on them thus playing their part in the engine’s destruction.

This brings us back to the failures in the certification process. Did Rolls-Royce somehow persuade EASA that the Trent 900 was more like a Trent 800 than it really was, with a consequence that more rigorous testing of the behavior of what were really quite different sections of the larger engine did not form an adequate or appropriate part of the certification process?

It is easy to imagine that the ATSB will come under intense pressure to avoid over emphasizing anything critical of the competency of one of its partners in the QF inquiry.

It is also not impossible to contemplate the ATSB resisting such pressure. It may, for example, conclude that all of the actions taken in relation to the Trent 900 engines both through special inspections and modular changes will provide satisfactory outcomes.

Or it might recommend a review of what constitutes a significantly changed rather than evolved engine design in the certification processes.

There is little reason to doubt that EASA was incompetent in certifying an engine which proved so dangerous in use, and so badly made in the course of an audit of the inventory. It should never have been allowed to fly in the condition that it was in when it disintegrated on QF32.

And Qantas should never have been given the assurances it accepted from Rolls-Royce at the time it chose them over the Engine Alliance alternative.

In this decade Airbus will evolve the A380 into an even more competent jet than it is today, and its design always anticipated the use of more powerful engines in the future.

It isn’t hard to imagine Qantas reviewing its future engine choice for these later model A380s at all.

On nous dit que Qantas n'aura pas de possibilité de trouver un moteur de l'EA pour les évolutions auxquelles fait "Blether" Ben SANDILANDS ! :lol:

• "Bonjour, chers tous.
  
  "NB. Je reviens sur ces 4 posts, pour faire amende honorable. Je viens de m'apercevoir que le texte de référence sur lequel j'ai "râlé" ci-après, dans les 4 messages qui suivent, semble être la reprise "à date d'anniversaire " (1 an : 05 janvier 2012, le texte d'origine du blog étant daté du 05 /01 /2011) de l'article, publié par Ben SANDILANDS, dans son blog "Crikey ... etc."
  
  "De toutes façons, le but de la reprise était de mettre en relief l'absurdité de l'écrit, maintenant qu'on a l'avantage du recul ("un an après"). Alors, je me permets de retoucher seulement les parties où je me suis laissé induire en erreur, et où j'ai pu induire en erreur les lecteurs.
  
  "Je vous présente mes excuses, mais laisse les 4 messages, parce qu'il me semble que les commentaires, après la retouche qui s'impose, restent pertinents."
  

e was rattled by strong turbulence, the Australian airline said on Sunday.
2012 AFP

Qantas 's'attire les foudres' ?

Espérons que tous les 'blessés' vont bien !

Qantas teases on super-stretched Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner

Qantas doesn't even have its first Boeing 787 Dreamliner but the airline is already talking to Boeing about a 'super-stretched' 787-10 edition.

"We would be very excited about a longer and larger versions of the 787" Qantas CEO Alan Joyce admitted at today's media preview of the 787 Dreamliner, "and we are obviously very interested in talking to Boeing about future developments."

For his part, Boeing 787 Vice President Mike Sinnett said the airline was definitely looking at the 787-10 and "right now we like what we see."

"We've (already) designed a version of the 787-8 which is stretched by 20 feet and adds 50 passengers, and that's the 787-9. Further out than that we're thinking about what it would mean to stretch the -9 even further to add additional passenger capacity."

And how many passengers would this drawn-out Dreamliner hold? With Jetstar already planning to pack 300 travellers into its two-class 787-8 and 350 in the longer 787-9, the 787-10 might hit the 400 mark – more than a Qantas Boeing 747!

• (i) les B787 & B787-9, ce deuxième étant déjà une version "stretch", ... sont et resteront trop petits ;
  
• (ii) une capacité maximale de 240-250 places, pour la version -8, en config. cabine 3 classes std., selon les normes modernes de confort spacieux, était trop petit ;
  
• (iii) le B787-9, prévoyant une capacité maximale de 290 sièges, aussi en en config. cabine 3 classes std., selon les normes modernes de confort spacieux, serait insuffisant ;
  
• (iv) le dogme de la fragmentation et des itinéraires pléthoriques, de 'point-à-point' / "point-to-point", avec peu de "hub-to-hub" avait prévalu.
  

• (i) le B787-8 mettrait longtemps, avant de pouvoir réaliser les promesses de performances faites initialement, et serait dépassé durablement en performances par l'A350-XWB-800, et mis dans l'ombre par la capacité sièges de 250 à 270 (et nous ne nous sommes pas trompés) ;
  
• (ii) le B787-9 (290 sièges) serait concurrencé même par l'A350-XWB-800 (270 sièges) , et, bien sûr par l'A350-XWB-900 (314 sièges) ;
  
• (iii) aussi, en réalité, le B787-9 serait pris en tenaille par deux avions supérieurs : les A350-XWB-800 et -900 ;
  
• (iv) sans oublier que le B787-9 était perçu comme le prédateur du B777-200ER, qui allait être, donc, 'cannibalisé depuis l'intérieur de la Maison Boeing (qui avait même fait, et laisser diffuser la remarque , que ' il vaut mieux cannibaliser de l'itérieur, plutôt que de se faire manger par la concurrence externe) ;
  
• (v) il n'y avait aucun concurrent sur le programme B787, qui soit capable de concurrencer l'A350-XWB-1000 ;
  
• (vi) ceci exposait spontanément, et irréfutablement, le B777-300ER à la concurrence dudit A350-XWB-1000, dont le seul aspect "fuel-burn efficiency" écraserait de 30% la performance du B777-300ER !
  

Update 19 January 2012

The investigation team is being led by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). With the assistance of accredited representatives from the Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses (BEA), the Air Accidents Investigation Branch of the United Kingdom (UK AAIB), the Air Accident Investigation Bureau of Singapore (AAIB Singapore), the National Transportation Safety Committee of Indonesia (NTSC), and advisors to those investigation bodies including Rolls-Royce, Airbus, SAFRAN Sagem, Honeywell (USA and UK), Aerolec UK and Singapore Aero Engine Services Private Limited, the data gathering phase of the investigation is complete and the team has commenced analysing that data.
During the period July to August 2011, accredited representatives from the BEA and UK AAIB and advisors from Airbus met with ATSB investigators in Canberra, Australia to ratify relevant A380 technical data in respect of the structural and systems damage sustained by the aircraft as a result of the uncontained engine failure. The examination of relevant Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine data and a number of engine manufacturing processes is nearing completion.
The ATSB has met with Rolls-Royce and Qantas Airways to update those parties on the progress of the investigation. In accordance with international protocol and ATSB policy and procedures, those and other relevant stakeholders will be involved in the development of the investigation findings and final report.

In conjunction with the UK AAIB and Rolls-Royce, the ATSB is continuing its examination of the circumstances and missed opportunities with the potential to have detected the reduced wall thickness and offset counter bore of the oil feed pipe prior to, during and after the manufacture of the module 51 assemblies. The ATSB has also reviewed the quality audits undertaken, and quality assurance system affecting the module 51 design and manufacturing process, and their effectiveness in detecting deficiencies in that process.

In the interim, Rolls-Royce has conducted a number of major internal investigations into its processes including the:
manufacture of oil pipes with reduced wall thickness
management of retrospective concessions of manufactured components
failure mode, effects and criticality analysis (FMECA) of previous component failures.

As a result of those investigations, Rolls-Royce has:
revised procedures for new structures that include feature verification and risk assessment during the design and manufacture process
introduced a revised, standalone procedure with appropriate supporting training to better manage the application of retrospective manufacturing concessions
revised its FMECA procedures to provide 'best practice' numerical justification for any assumptions made.
The investigation will monitor the progress of those initiatives.

Aircraft response to the disc failure

The examination of airframe and systems damage that resulted from the engine disc burst has been completed. That examination did not reveal any significant or critical safety issues.
The continuing repair of the aircraft in Singapore has allowed the examination of relevant removed/replaced aircraft components at the ATSB's technical facilities in Canberra. Those components have included a number of wiring looms, elements of the aircraft's airframe and a number of sub-components.

Airbus proactive safety action

As part of its ongoing examination of this event, Airbus has commenced working with a number of airport and rescue and firefighting agencies to develop an agreed safe means for those agencies to externally shut down engines on Airbus aircraft - as became necessary in this case. Any agreed procedures will be incorporated in the Airbus Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighting Chart and be made available to airports and fire crews on line in document and poster form.
Ongoing investigation activities

The investigation is continuing and has progressed to the analysis of the large amount of complex factual information that has been gathered during the investigation. The drafting of the investigation report has commenced and will include extensive liaison with domestic and international stakeholders. In accordance with international protocol, that will include a 60-day consultation period for international parties to the investigation.

The final report is anticipated for public release in the third quarter of 2012.

The information contained in this web update is released in accordance with section 25 of the Transport Safety Investigation Act 2003 and is derived from the initial investigation of the occurrence. Readers are cautioned that new evidence will become available as the investigation progresses that will enhance the ATSB's understanding of the accident as outlined in this web update. As such, no analysis or findings are included in this update.

Airbus has traced the source of the cracking in A380 wing structures to unexpected additional stresses imparted by the manufacturing process, and is confident that its original flight loading calculations for the type are accurate.

The airframer is in the process of changing the manufacturing process and has developed a fix for affected aircraft, as the European Aviation Safety Agency prepares to instruct operators to conduct precautionary inspections.

But Airbus emphasises that the cracking problem - while needing to be addressed, to avoid longer-term issues - is not a safety risk in the short- to medium-term.

The cracks were originally discovered in the rib feet of the Qantas A380 which suffered an uncontained engine failure in November 2010, and has since been under repair in Singapore.

Airbus carries out A380 wing manufacture at the UK plant in Broughton, before transferring the wings to the Toulouse final assembly line. An Airbus wing specialist on the A380 said the airframer's investigations indicated that parts were being stressed at some point during the manufacturing process, which involves drawing the wing skin over the built-up rib and spar assembly before attaching it.

"It's possible to get standing stresses that hadn't been expected," said the specialist, which translated into additional loading during flight. Airbus has already conducted verification flights to measure actual loading, and found that its original design calculations are correct.

"We've confirmed that ordinary flight loads are exactly as predicted," the specialist said, and added that the components' design would remain "completely unchanged".

But the airframer said it was changing the build process, to ensure that wing assembly does not generate unforeseen stresses.

Rib feet are L-shaped brackets, about 9in (23cm) tall, which connect the wing skin to composite rib structures. There are some 30-40 on each rib spanning the wing.

While the Qantas aircraft sustained extensive wing damage during the engine failure, engineers carried out an intensive inspection to establish whether there was evidence of damage which could not be attributed to the event.

This inspection revealed faint hairline cracks in the area where the rib foot is attached to the wing skin, running from the bolt-hole to the edge of the foot. He said a "few" of these feet were affected, located about halfway along the span of the wing.

The Qantas aircraft is one of the early airframes, MSN14, and the finding prompted precautionary checks on other initial-production A380s.

Nine aircraft have been inspected. Checks on another A380, during a 2C maintenance visit earlier this month, found cracks on a rib foot, in a different position. An immediate remedial solution involves replacing the affected rib feet and dropping a new section into its place.

While Airbus insists that the cracks are "nothing of concern", and would only need to be addressed over a period of years rather than urgently, it expects EASA to release an airworthiness directive instructing operators to carry out inspections - although the precise extent of these has yet to be disclosed.

"In the long term it would have to be fixed, but in the short term it's not a problem," the specialist pointed out.

Airbus said it is confident that the crack problems, originally only noticed as a consequence of the Qantas repair, would easily have been detected during a later heavy check, even if it had not been identified during earlier routine maintenance.

La compagnie aérienne australienne Qantas a immobilisé un de ses Airbus 380 après la découverte de micro-fissures sur la voilure du très gros porteur, mais elle a assuré mercredi qu'il n'y avait pas de risque pour la sécurité des passagers.
© 2012 AFP

A Qantas Airways Airbus A380 has been grounded after 36 cracks were found on its wings on 5 February.

The aircraft, which bears the registration VH-OQF, had its airframe built in 2010 and has clocked 399 flight cycles totalling 2,454 flight hours, according to Flightglobal's ACAS database.

The aircraft was first grounded when Airbus requested a second phase of precautionary checks on its wings after it went through severe turbulence in January, said Qantas. Airbus made the request after reviewing data of the turbulent flight.

"During these inspections, minor cracking was found on some wing rib brackets. This cracking is not related to the turbulence, or specific to Qantas, but is traced back to a manufacturing issue in this specific wing area of the aircraft," said a Qantas spokesman.

He added that the cracks found are different from the "type two" cracking recently found on other A380s, which are now the subject of a European airworthiness directive.

The cracks are, however, similar to the manufacturing defects discovered earlier on the wing ribs of a Qantas A380 that suffered an uncontained engine failure near Singapore in November 2010, he said. That aircraft is still in Singapore, where it made an emergency landing after the incident, but the cracks have since been repaired.

Qantas is now working with Airbus on the cracks and an "inspection and repair regime" is being developed.

"We will follow Airbus' instructions on any further action that may be required. However we expect the aircraft to be back in service within a week," said the spokesman, adding that Airbus has confirmed that the cracks have no effect on flight safety.

The European Aviation Safety Agency ordered the inspection of 20 Airbus A380s to check for wing rib-foot damage in January after two different forms of cracks were found in the structure of the aircraft. Of the affected aircraft, 10 are with Singapore Airlines, seven with Emirates, one with Air France and two are Airbus test A380s.

Qantas Targets A330 Joint Venture With MAS

Qantas has made significant changes to its plans for an Asian-based premium carrier, and is now negotiating with Malaysia Airlines (MAS) for a joint-venture based on some of the Airbus A330 aircraft that MAS has on order.

The Australian carrier had previously said it wanted to set up the premium carrier in either Malaysia or Singapore, using eight of the 110 A320s that it had ordered. But Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says that Qantas is now pursuing a “capital-light” plan for the start-up, as it looks to cut capital expenditure.

Singapore is no longer being considered as the location, and discussions are continuing with MAS about a Kuala Lumpur base. No announcement is expected for at least a couple of months, however.

A330s will be used since MAS already has significant orders for these aircraft, AviationWeek has learned. The carriers are still expected to aim the carrier at the premium market, although they will be configured with two classes.

The eight A320 orders that Qantas had earmarked for the new carrier will not be canceled and will be used for other purposes instead. Qantas was in discussions with Airbus about long-range version of the A320 for the Asia-based airline, but there is not expected to be a significant financial penalty for converting these orders to the standard version.

Qantas is aiming to reduce capital expenditure to AU$2.3 billion ($2.5 billion) for fiscal year 2012, compared to the previously planned AU$2.5 billion. As well as the reduced spending on the premium carrier, Qantas will save money due to the deferral of Boeing 787 deliveries caused by manufacturer delays.

In fiscal 2013 Qantas plans to cut capital expenditure to AU$2.3 billion, compared to previous estimates of AU$2.8 billion. The carrier has signaled that this reduction will likely be increased, primarily through canceling, delaying or restructuring existing orders.

In another major cost-cutting measure, Qantas announced a review of its heavy maintenance facilities. The carrier intends to close at least one of its three heavy maintenance bases, Joyce says. Additionally, the carrier is consolidating a wide range of engineering and administrative work to Sydney.

These changes announced so far will result in 500 positions being eliminated, and Joyce says more cuts will likely be needed as the result of reviews. However, he stresses that no jobs are being outsourced overseas.

Qantas has also announced further changes to its international services. It will cut flights from Los Angeles to Auckland and from Singapore to Mumbai in May. The airline will replace Boeing 747s with A330s on its Sydney-Bangkok route in June, and will downgauge the Sydney-Auckland flights from A330s to 737-800s. Service will be added to the Los Angeles-New York route, and Tokyo routes, using 747s.

On its domestic network, Qantas will add A330s on its Melbourne-Perth route, and will replace 747-400s with A330s on certain Sydney-Perth flights.

Due to these network changes, Qantas is retiring an additional two 747s in addition to the four it will retire in April.

For the six months through Dec. 31 2011, Qantas reported an underlying profit before tax of AU$202 million, less than half the profit from the same period in 2010. Strikes had an AU$194 million negative effect, and fuel costs were up by AU$444 million.

Qantas will delay service entry of its Boeing 787-8 fleet as the airline moves to slash capital expenditure in the 2012-13 period.

The carrier says the move, which it said has been enabled by "manufacturer delays", will contribute to cuts in capex from a projected A$2.5 billion ($2.68 billion) to $2.3 billion for 2012 and from $2.8 billion to $2.3 billion in 2013 "with further cuts to be identified for that year", said chief executive Alan Joyce..

Boeing was due to deliver Qantas's first three of 15 787-8s in 2012, itself a delay from a handover initially projected for 2010. The carrier did not specify when it would now receive its initial Dreamliner.

Speaking as he announced the airline's half-year results, Joyce unveiled a raft of cost-saving measures, including route closures and a root-and-branch review of its MRO capability, which he said were necessary to "restore, retain and increase our efficiency and competitiveness".

Joyce said services will be withdrawn from the Singapore-Mumbai and Auckland-Los Angeles routes from May.

From June its Sydney-Bangkok service will be served using an Airbus A330 instead of a Boeing 747-400. Sydney-Auckland will also shift from an A330 to a 737-800.

A330s will also replace 747-400s on "certain services" between Sydney and Perth, and A330s will now be utilised on the Melbourne-Perth route.

Boeing 747 services to Japan will rise to seven per week, from six at present, said Joyce.

The network changes "and the critical mass of 12 A380s" in its fleet will enable Qantas to retire two more 747s this year, in addition to the four of the type that will retire in April.

Its entire maintenance operation will be reconfigured, said Joyce, as it looks to increase competitiveness in a division which is 30% more expensive than its competitors.

Although promising no jobs would be shifted off-shore, some 500 positions will be made redundant by the changes, said Joyce.

Heavy maintenance operations will be consolidated from its three sites at Melbourne, Brisbane and Avalon. No decision has been taken on the size of final maintenance footprint, but Joyce warned "doing nothing is not an option".

The majority of other maintenance and supply chain operations will be moved to Sydney, he added.

Line maintenance will change to a "maintenance on demand" approach, so that "engineers will not be conducting aircraft checks that are not required", said Joyce.

Rostering and planning activities will largely be consolidated to Sydney as well, he added. "We need to be ready to take tough decisions, and we must become more flexible and productive."

Qantas continues to evaluate the creation of a premium airline in Asia, but this will be a "capital-lite model", Joyce said.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has ruled that oil leaks seen on the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines powering two Qantas Airbus A380s were caused by a loss of clamping force on oil feed pipe connections, and outlines steps the engine manufacturer is taking to resolve the issue.

Both aircraft, registrations VH-OQG and VH-OQC, experienced oil leaks /in one of their Trent 900s on the Singapore-London route, says the ATSB.

On 24 February 2011, eight hours into its flight, the crew of VH-OQG detected a reduction in the indicated oil tank quantity for the No.3 engine. The crew reduced the engine's thrust to idle and continued to London.

Then, on 3 November 2011, three hours into its flight, the crew of VH-OQC received a low oil quantity advisory for the No.4 engine. Forty minutes later, the engine registered a low oil pressure warning, prompting the crew to shut down the powerplant and divert to Dubai.

In both instances, says the ATSB, maintenance personnel discovered that one of the Trent 900's external oil feed pipes had leaked in the same location.

Specifically, the leaks occurred at the external oil feed pipe connector to the high-pressure/intermediate-pressure turbine bearing support casing.

The connection became loose, reducing clamping force and compromising the seal between these components.

In addition, the pipe connection was subject to higher deflection loads than Rolls-Royce had anticipated, says the ATSB.

"By the time the November event occurred, there had been 15 engine oil leaks across the A380 fleet worldwide," says the ATSB. "The engine manufacturer conducted an ongoing investigation into the oil leaks and at the time of writing this report had identified high pipe deflection loads as a significant factor."

Il est toujours en avance !

The ATSB adds that Rolls-Royce has modified "the oil pipe clipping arrangement and revised securing methods for the pipe connection and deflector assembly."

Further, Rolls-Royce has enhanced trend monitoring of oil consumption and is developing a new oil pipe design, the report says.