Investigators make a disturbing find in a Qantas plane’s engine – AFTER 34 flights around the world: ‘Significant threat to safety’
A Qantas jet carried passengers on dozens of international flights with a four-foot tool stuck in one of its engines, investigators have revealed.
Nothing seemed wrong with the Airbus A380 as it operated 34 flights between December 2023 and January 2024. The services include a flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne.
But on December 6, the engine was subjected to a scheduled inspection using an endoscope, and technicians accidentally left a four-foot nylon tool in the intake of the left outboard.
It wasn’t until 24 days later, after logging nearly 300 flight hours, that a maintenance crew in Los Angeles discovered the tool was in the engine.
The tool is used to turn on the engine’s medium pressure compressor. It was left in the engine’s low-pressure compressor housing.
There was no damage to the engine itself, but the tool was bent by a “high energy airflow”, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said.
ATSB chief constable Angus Mitchell said staff noticed the tools were missing in December but did not bother to find them.
“Maintenance engineers did not initiate the lost tool procedure after the tool was determined to be missing, and the certifying engineer released the aircraft for maintenance while the tool was missing.”
The tool was only discovered after the Airbus A380 had logged almost 300 flight hours.
Mitchell said foreign objects and debris could pose a “significant threat” to the safe operation of aircraft.
Procedures are in place to ensure that no foreign objects are left on aircraft, but in this case these were not followed.
After the problem was discovered, Qantas informed its engineers about the importance of keeping track of all their tools.
An internal investigation has also been conducted into the employee responsible. The result was an ‘internal safety guideline’ for the staff.
In 2023, Qantas was named the world’s safest airline – a reputation the Flying Kangaroo is keen to maintain.
The tools were accidentally left in the engine after a routine inspection.