Another Qantas plane experiences engine problems

Another Qantas plane experiences engine problems

After grounding its entire A380 airplane fleet because of a mid-flight explosion in a jet in November 4, Qantas suffered another setback when another one of its planes, this time a Boeing 747 carrying 221 passengers, encountered an electrical problem when it was above the Pacific Ocean en route from Sydney to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The pilots discarded jet fuel as it turned back to land safely in Australia.

Last Friday, a Qantas Boeing 767 also had to turn back after pilots noticed unusual vibrations coming from one of the engines. Just one week prior, a Qantas Boeing 747 had to make an emergency landing in Singapore after one of its engines caught fire shortly after taking off.

The 767 plane had General Electric engines while the 747 planes had Rolls-Royce RB211 engines. The A380 incident in November was blamed by Qantas on the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engines. Rolls-Royce later said that it would be replacing some components on its Trent 900 engines and add a piece of software that would detect oil leaks that can spark fires. European regulators have ordered Rolls-Royce to examine their engines thoroughly.

The consecutive plane incidents have tarnished the reputation of Australia’s biggest airline as one of the safest in the world. Qantas said its A380s would remain grounded indefinitely.

“We are taking our normal and extremely conservative approach to safety and will not operate our A380 fleet until we are completely confident that it is safe to do so,” the airline’s spokesman Simon Rushton said on Monday.

Posted by Sophia Andrews on Monday November 15 2010, 8:51 AM EST. Ref: Washington Post. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News, Travel. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0