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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 3021.PDF
W%9wm W vl#lf9w« Wol W In-flight Trent 700 failure forces Cathay A330 back to Saigon PAUL LEWIS/SINGAPORE CATHAY PACIFIC Airways is investigating the involuntary in-flight shutdown on 11 Novem ber of a Rolls-Royce Trent 700 en gine, which forced the crew of one of its Airbus A3 3 0-3 00s to return to Saigon shortly after take-off. The engine suffered a suspected internal gearbox failure as the air craft reached top-of-climb at 37,OOOft (11,300m). Cockpit instruments indicated a fall in fuel and oil pressure and the engine subsequently stalled. After twice failing to restart the powerplant, the A3 3 0 crew elected to return to Tan Son Nhat Inter national Airport and land with one engine. The engine was removed from the aircraft and flown back from Vietnam to Hong Kong for a full tear-down and inspection. Investigations are understood to focus on a bearing failure in the gearbox area and possible radial driveshaft decoupling. Cathay sources confirm that the engine's master chip-detector found a sliver of detached metal. The incident was the second recorded inflight shutdown of a Trent 700 since the engine entered Trent failure forced Cathay A330 to return to Saigon Cathay service in February 1995. R-R says that the failed part has been returned to its headquarters in the UK for inspection, and con firms that the failure occurred "in the accessory gearbox area". The companyadds: "It hasn't happened before, and we're still not clear on the precise cause." Meanwhile, Cathay and Drag- onair are halfway through a rolling programme to modify the thrust reversers on their Trent 700s. Some of the early-build engines are understood to have suffered thrust- reverser failures, because of prob lems experienced with the lockout mechanism. A third, "tertiary", lock was added to the thrust- reverser mechanism late in the design cycle, as a precaution in the wake of the 1991 Lauda Air Boeing 767-300ER crash which was caused by the uncommanded in flight deployment of a thrust reverser. Modifications are now being incorporated into new-build engines before delivery. The modification involves ".. .refining the position and align ment of the tertiary bolt", says R-R. "The upgraded units are not caus ing any problems," it adds. • Austrian/Swissair take Ukraine stake AUSTRIAN AIRLINES and Swissair have taken a com bined 18% stake in Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), a Kiev-based carrier which serves 12 Western European cities with a fleet of three Boeing 73 7s. The two carriers have acquired the stake in profitable UIA through a joint holding company, 78%- owned by Austrian, with Swissair owning 22%. The other share holders in UIA are the State Property Fund of the Ukraine, with 68.5%, and Irish leasing com pany GPA, which holds 13.5%. Austrian and UIA already offer joint services between Vienna and Kiev, Odessa and Dnepropetrovsk. • Air Ukraine says thatitwill make a decision on acquiring leased Boeing 767s or Airbus A310s early in December. It needs the aircraft for services to the USA. J NEWS IN BRIEF • CHINA TIES The Society of British Aero space Companies (SBAC) has signed a memorandum of understanding with Aviation Industries of China (AVIC), covering the formation of a Sino-UK Aerospace Equip ment Working Group. Turn your portable PC into an ARINC 429 test system DDC's new DD-4294XM2-300 Type II PCMCIA card contains a complete ARINC 429 interface It allows the use of commercial off-the-shelf laptop computers in avionic test, system integration and development applications Four Rx channels Two/One/Zero Tx channels * Label sorting and FIFO storage For further information contact D D C ILC DATA DEVICE CORPORATION" UK: Mill Reef House, Cheap St, Newbury, Berks, RG14 5DD Tel: +44 (1635) 40158 Fax: +44 (1635) 32264 FRANCE: Tel: +33-1-41-16-34-24 GERMANY: Tel: +49-8191-3105 SWEDEN: Tel: +46 (8) 920 635 USA: Tel: 516-567-5600 Fax: 516-567-7358 FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 November 1996
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