engine fault, in last month.
It had to return to Singapore after
dropping debris and suffering
damage to the left wing.
The aircraft was VH-OQA, or Nancy
Bird Walton, the first A380 delivered to
Qantas, entering service in 2008. It had recently undergone a scheduled heavy maintenance check.
No knowledgeable aerospace
commentator is implicating the
computerized systems that control the
A380.In fact, as we'll see later, the fly-
by-wire design will have helped the
crew safely land the damaged aircraft.
The engine was from the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 series. A high-bypass
turbofan design developing up to
80,000 lbf of thrust. It's only used in
the A380 by Lufthansa, Qantas and
Singapore Airlines. (Other A380
operators use Engine Alliance GP7000 engines, the product of a joint venture
between GE and Pratt & Whitney.)
Both Qantas and Singapore withdrew
all their A380s from service, to carry
out engine checks, as a response to
the accident and in accordance with
Rolls-Royce's recommendations.
