An Singapore Airlines Airbus A380 was forced to turn round mid-flight and head back to Paris on Sunday after one of its four engines failed, the head of the airline’s French operations said.
The double-decker A380 took off from Paris at 12.30 pm (1030 GMT) with 444 passengers aboard and was headed for Singapore, but had to turn round after 2 hours 45 minutes because of the engine problem, airline director Jerry Seah said.
The plane landed safely back in France at 5.45 pm (1545 GMT) and the passengers were sent to hotels as the airline tried to lay on an alternative flight for them.
Seah said he believed it was the first time the plane had suffered such a problem since it had started operating the Singapore-Paris route earlier this year.
The giant jet is designed to continue flying with only three engines, but came back to Paris as a safety precaution.
The engines on the Singapore A380s are built by Britain’s Rolls Royce.
(Reuters)
By: Ship 741 - 29th September 2009 at 03:34
An engine problem on a Singapore Airlines A380 superjumbo airliner was a “non-event” in technical terms, the chief executive of the company that built it said yesterday.
Singapore Airlines said the plane carrying 444 passengers from Paris to Singapore was forced to return to the French capital on Sunday when the as-yet unspecified problem was detected two and a half hours into the flight.
The A380 is the world’s largest passenger airliner and Singapore Airlines (SIA) is the first to take delivery of it, having ordered 19 with an option for six more.
Speaking in Paris, Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus manufacturer EADS, called the incident “a complete non-event”.
“Engine failure on a four-engine aircraft does happen and nobody should think of it as a drama,” Gallois told journalists. “In technical terms, it is not an event.”
“This airplane would have been able to reach its destination with three engines out of four with no difficulty.”
Singapore Airlines and Rolls-Royce, the British manufacturer of the engines, both said they were investigating.
“We are in the process of examining the problem,” said Singapore Airlines spokesman Jerry Seah, adding that the Paris-Singapore route was being maintained by another Airbus A380.
Singapore Airlines said the A380 could have continued the flight on its three remaining engines.
A spokeswoman for Rolls-Royce said the company was “working closely with Singapore Airlines to investigate the reasons behind the engine error message reported on the flight.”
“The engine has been removed and is currently undergoing detailed investigation,” she said. “The aircraft is being fitted with a replacement engine and will continue in service.”
Airport sources said the plane took off at 12.30 pm (1030 GMT) on Sunday and landed back at Charles de Gaulle airport at 5.39 pm.
The A380 began its first commercial flights from Europe in early June. Singapore Airlines hopes to have 11 A380s in operation by the end of March.
AFP
ALL engine failures on transport category aircraft in actual revenue service are “an event.” Such incidents are monitored very closely and the resultant investigations are the subject of intense interest to airlines, manufacturers, and regulators alike.
By: Ship 741 - 29th September 2009 at 03:31
Probably they were no where near an airport that could take an A380?
Also, it makes more sense returning to an airport that you operate to/from, where you will likely have access to prearranged maintenance services.
Also, I would add to these the passenger handling considerations. It’s much easier to accomodate that large number of passengers for future flights to carry them to their original destinations from a hub, than from smaller outlying airports. Unless another A380 (with crew) was available to ferry out to the diversion site, it might take two airplanes (and their crews) to “rescue” the stranded pax. A very expensive operation, as those airplanes and crews would probably be committed somewhere else and require cancellations to be freed up.
There are a number of scenarios whereby they would have landed nearest suitable, but an engine failure in a quad generally gives you a lot of options. Thats good because quads have historically (prior to A380 and per Boeing data) diverted at a rate almost twice as much as twins.
By: steve rowell - 29th September 2009 at 03:25
An engine problem on a Singapore Airlines A380 superjumbo airliner was a “non-event” in technical terms, the chief executive of the company that built it said yesterday.
Singapore Airlines said the plane carrying 444 passengers from Paris to Singapore was forced to return to the French capital on Sunday when the as-yet unspecified problem was detected two and a half hours into the flight.
The A380 is the world’s largest passenger airliner and Singapore Airlines (SIA) is the first to take delivery of it, having ordered 19 with an option for six more.
Speaking in Paris, Louis Gallois, chief executive of Airbus manufacturer EADS, called the incident “a complete non-event”.
“Engine failure on a four-engine aircraft does happen and nobody should think of it as a drama,” Gallois told journalists. “In technical terms, it is not an event.”
“This airplane would have been able to reach its destination with three engines out of four with no difficulty.”
Singapore Airlines and Rolls-Royce, the British manufacturer of the engines, both said they were investigating.
“We are in the process of examining the problem,” said Singapore Airlines spokesman Jerry Seah, adding that the Paris-Singapore route was being maintained by another Airbus A380.
Singapore Airlines said the A380 could have continued the flight on its three remaining engines.
A spokeswoman for Rolls-Royce said the company was “working closely with Singapore Airlines to investigate the reasons behind the engine error message reported on the flight.”
“The engine has been removed and is currently undergoing detailed investigation,” she said. “The aircraft is being fitted with a replacement engine and will continue in service.”
Airport sources said the plane took off at 12.30 pm (1030 GMT) on Sunday and landed back at Charles de Gaulle airport at 5.39 pm.
The A380 began its first commercial flights from Europe in early June. Singapore Airlines hopes to have 11 A380s in operation by the end of March.
AFP
By: Deano - 28th September 2009 at 15:36
Ah
I wondered why I saw saw the SIA 380 near the FedEx hangars in CDG when we taxied past today, that explains it.
By: Newforest - 28th September 2009 at 14:50
Not forgetting the necessity of burning off some more fuel before landing!
By: Bmused55 - 28th September 2009 at 10:35
Probably they were no where near an airport that could take an A380?
Also, it makes more sense returning to an airport that you operate to/from, where you will likely have access to prearranged maintenance services.
By: Ren Frew - 28th September 2009 at 02:22
If it’s designed to fly on three engines, why on earth would they take the ‘precaution’ of a near three hour return to Paris ? Surely there must have been somewhere else enroute to put down ?
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September 28, 2009 at 12:12 am