Our Quantas Plane Blows its Engine into the Wing

Qantas grounds A380s after Singapore emergency landing

We have just been watching the footage of the Quantas Airbus A380 on QF32 Singapore to Sydney had one of its engines blow apart in mid air dropping the cowling on Batam Island in Indonesia and apparently putting a hole in the wing and causing it to make an emergency landing back in Singapore still leaking fuel after dumping its load in mid air. Quantas has grounded its 6 A380s but Singapore Airlines, with 11, has said it has no plans to do so, despite apparently having a similar event in one of its A380s in 2009. Lufthansa and Singapore Airlines, the other airlines that fly A380s fitted with Trent 900 engines, also briefly grounded their planes last week but resumed services after completing checks. Some airlines use different engines so only some other airlines using A380s have been affected. Qantas has also said three other of its Rolls-Royce engines in A380s in different places on the planet have problems, including oil leaking and issues with the intermediate compressor bearings, on inspection so the fleet may be out of action for a while. Rolls Royce now claim to have 'made progress' in their engine probe and note the Qantas jets have a different version of their engine designed for higher temperatures and greater altitude.

Just watch out with the A380, although it's a great plane to fly in for comfort, until Rolls-Royce and Airbus have sorted out why there have been two engine failures, at least one violent, before you take your next flight.