Qantas 747 Engine Blows Up; SFO Emergency Landing

[LineNPilotGuy]

http://www.ktvu.com/news/24823452/detail.html

SAN FRANCISCO -- A Qantas 747 heading to Sydney with with 212 passengers and a crew of 18 was forced to make an emergency landing at San Francisco International Airport early Tuesday after an engine exploded in flight over the Pacific, authorities said.

Qantas Airways Flight No. 74 had departed SFO around 11:10 p.m. and had been in the air for about 45 minutes when passengers heard a loud bang and felt the plane vibrate.

Among the passengers was Neil Dufty, who was on the flight heading back to his home north of Sydney.

“We were about half an hour into the flight and there was a very strong shutter on the right hand side of the plane,” he told KTVU. “It wasn’t turbulence. It seemed that there was some pretty serious damage. People on the right hand side of the plane seemed very shocked. Apparently, there were flames coming out of the engine.”

Fellow passenger Elizabeth Thomas heard a loud noise.

“I heard a very strange noise,” Thomas said. “It’s hard to describe. I don’t travel that much but I knew it was very wrong. The staff looked a little alarmed and began to move very quickly.”

Nolan Goldstein also knew some had gone wrong

“I heard a thud, a bump and the plane veered off to the left,” he told KTVU. “It was very uncertain for a period of time until the captain announced that we had an engine that blew up…It was a real uncomfortable vibration at first and then the plane began to shake a bit.”

The explosion left a huge, gaping hole in the No. 4 engine. However, Qantas Airways spokesman Simon Rushton said there was no fire, but an engine surge can often cause what appear to be flames.

Dufty said the flight crew quieted down the initial panic.

“The captain came on and assured everybody that the plane was still relatively safe,” he said. “(He said) there was serious damage in one of the engines. We jettisoned some fuel and turned around. The captain made a very good landing. We all cheered.”

Airport duty manager Chris Davison said the pilot immediately turned the plane around and headed to SFO with emergency crews scrambled to the runway. The four-engine Boeing 747 was able to make a safe emergency landing at 12:45 a.m.

There were no injuries to anyone aboard the plane, Davison said.

"The airline is doing its best to reschedule those passengers," Davison said. In the meantime, the passengers from Flight 74 are staying at area hotels.

Copyright 2010 by KTVU.com and Bay City News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.​

Hope I didn't miss another thread about this.

 

[dasleben]

The dreaded three-engine landing!

Nice job to the crew. Good textbook ending.

 

[starman2112]

man... sure glad they had a few spare engines to get them back to SFO... Glad they landed safe...

 

[LineNPilotGuy]

My question is, how often does this happen & sure they have more engines but what happens if it tore off part of the wing or damaged hydraulics.

 

[Muff3n]

Very nice job by the crew. I am glad this one turned out well.

 

[TFaudree_ERAU]

My question is, how often does this happen & sure they have more engines but what happens if it tore off part of the wing or damaged hydraulics.

There are plenty of protections built in to transport category airplanes to prevent catastrophic failure. Some examples; kevlar burst ring around the engine fan section, redundant hydraulic sources for the same flight control systems, hydraulic fuses (shut off a line of there is excessive flow rate; ie. a sliced line) and the ability to safely maneuver the airplane with only one aileron or elevator operative.

 

[ChasenSFO]

First time I've ever seen a QF 744 here overnight. I'm gonna take a pic of the engine tomorrow, I'll post the picture.

 

[LineNPilotGuy]

Chasen, I'd be curious to see some non-media pictures as well. All the news showed was a band-aide type thing over the engine where it appears is a big hole.

So after such a large failure, is an engine like this rebuild and put back in use?

 

[Polar742]

My question is, how often does this happen & sure they have more engines but what happens if it tore off part of the wing or damaged hydraulics.

Do some research on an Evergreen 747-100 taking off out of ANC some years ago. That should answer most of your questions.

:beer:

 

[jdlilfan]

Pictures of it here:
http://www.flightglobal.com/article...es-qantas-747-uncontained-engine-failure.html

 

[beasly]

I think I am going to go a little easier on my self about hold entries.

 

[Cptnchia]

I think I am going to go a little easier on my self about hold entries.

They were probably just flying vectors while dumping fuel and desending.

 

[N519AT]

Here's the video of it:

[YT]_y_w-MDPTM4[/YT]

 

[Muff3n]

Here's the video of it:

[YT]_y_w-MDPTM4[/YT]

Very cool video! Not many chances you get to see something like that happening first hand.

 

[bustinminimums]

Looks like Qantas finally got the afterburner S.T.C for the 747 from Boeing.

 

[ChasenSFO]

Sorry guys, no pics as of yet. I was just about to drive down to the airport and get a close up shot from the parking garage next to where the plane was parked this morning as I saw the plane being towed away. Its hidden right now, which is typical when a plane has an incident here since most of the airport is in full view from the terminals. If I have down time at work tommorow I'll probably hitch a ride over to the hangars and get a few shots...unless they have it guarded by Airfield Safety right now.

 

[rd757]

Glad everything worked out and didn't cause a fire...

 

[mrivc211]

My question is, how often does this happen & sure they have more engines but what happens if it tore off part of the wing or damaged hydraulics.

That's why their called engine pods, they're designed to rip off in the event there's too much drag so that it doesn't take the rest of the plane with it.

 

[mrivc211]

Sorry guys, no pics as of yet. I was just about to drive down to the airport and get a close up shot from the parking garage next to where the plane was parked this morning as I saw the plane being towed away. Its hidden right now, which is typical when a plane has an incident here since most of the airport is in full view from the terminals. If I have down time at work tommorow I'll probably hitch a ride over to the hangars and get a few shots...unless they have it guarded by Airfield Safety right now.

I'm eating my breakfast at the hotel. You better have my plane washed, waxed, and ready to fly by the time I get there or I'll let max have his way with you!



On a side note, I js home 3 weeks ago on our flight to sna, just got a notice from united asking for $16.85 for the flight. I called the travel center and laughed and told them no chance in hell.

 

[dr650]

That's why their called engine pods, they're designed to rip off in the event there's too much drag so that it doesn't take the rest of the plane with it.

I thought Boeing changed the design so they no longer do this quite a few years ago?