A380 Airplane Parts Fell Off After Take-off
Thursday, 4th November 2010
Minutes after Qantas A380 left Changi Airport, one of its four Rolls-Royce engine caught fire and exploded. Its engine casing rained down on Batam, a nearby Indonesian town, and the superjumbo Airbus A380 with 466 people on board dumped fuel before returning to Singapore. After the plane landed, a second engine, next to the one that exploded, would not shut down.
Fuel dumping from the A380 was to lighten the aircraft's weight. Fuel is jettisoned before landing at an airport short of the intended destination. Fuel dumping operations are coordinated with Changi Air Traffic Control, and precautions were taken to keep other aircraft clear of such areas. Fuel dumping was executed at an altitude where the fuel will dissipate before reaching the ground. Fuel leaves the aircraft through a specific point near the wingtips away from engines.
Photo Credit: Flickr.
Update April 2012: Qantas has chalked up its biggest repair bill yet of US$144 million, after it took 18 months repairing the damaged A380 aircraft that suffered a mid-air engine explosion after taking off from Singapore.