Qantas A380s Still Grounded

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Qantas says its A380 fleet will be grounded “for a matter of days, not weeks” as it probes anomalies discovered in Rolls Royce Trent engines similar to one that suffered an uncontained failure over Indonesia last week. Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told reporters inspections of three engines discovered oil “where oil shouldn’t be” as Qantas and Rolls Royce engineers bear down on the possible cause of the failure. “These are new engines on new aircraft, they shouldn’t have these issues at this stage so it’s given us an indication of an area for us to focus into,” Joyce said. “It’s too early for us to say what components or parts of the engine we think could have been the issue.” Meanwhile the Australian Transportation Safety Board has residents of an Indonesian island on a high stakes scavenger hunt.

The engine came apart over the island of Batam and residents reported that debris rained over a wide area. The ATSB is hoping someone finds a missing chunk of turbine disc that departed the nacelle. “The recovery of that turbine disc piece could be crucial to understanding the nature of the engine failure, and may have implications for the prevention of similar occurrences in the future,” the ATSB said in a statement. At least two of the engines with errant oil are in Los Angeles and have been removed from the aircraft for more detailed inspection.

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