High Pressure Turbine Plays Key Role In Brisbane Boeing 767-200 Investigation

Yesterday's shutdown of an Air New Zealand Boeing 767-200 engine which forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing at Brisbane appears, from initial investigation, to have the hallmarks of a rare uncontained engine failure.

Preliminary inspection of the damaged engine by aircraft manufacturer General Electric in Brisbane has indicated a section of a high pressure turbine came loose and fed back through the engine, penetrating the rear engine casing. The resulting engine shrapnel damaged the leading edge flap on the wing and the engine cowling.

Air New Zealand's Vice President Operations and Technical Craig Sinclair said the cause of the actual failure of the turbine was still not known and was the prime focus of ongoing investigations by the airline and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau who were leading the inquiry.

The incident was reported to the NZ Civil Aviation Authority and Australian Safety Transport Bureau, and General Electric and Boeing have been notified. 

Mr Sinclair added: "There is no rational explanation as to why, with no indication at all on the monitors here in Auckland which were tracking the aircraft's climb, the engine suddenly malfunctioned.

"We have a team of eight engineering, safety and quality assurance personnel in Brisbane conducting our own investigation and working alongside the investigation lead by the ATSB to discover exactly what happened."

Mr Sinclair indicated the investigation, which will involve sending engine fragments to ATSB headquarters in Canberra for analysis, could take up to a fortnight to complete its initial work and several months for a full report to be prepared. 

The engine, a General Electric Model CF6-80A2, is one of 11 owned by Air New Zealand.

Eight are in operation on the airline's four 767-200 aircraft with three held as spares.

According to latest information from General Electric, 146 aircraft worldwide are powered by the CF6-80A2 engine including 104 Boeing 767's. 

Air New Zealand is still awaiting further information from General Electric on any previous engine failures of this kind but at this stage, indications are that is an extremely rare event.