A preliminary factual report released today by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau recounts a laudable effort on the part of the five-member flight crew to land the Qantas A380 stricken by the uncontained failure of one of its Rolls-Royce Trent 900 turbofans over the Indonesian island of Batam on November 4.
Minutes after a normal takeoff from Singapore Changi International Airport, the crew reported that they heard two almost simultaneous "loud bangs" while climbing through 7,000 feet msl. Subsequently, the airplane's electronic centralized aircraft monitor (ECAM) system displayed an overheat warning in the Number 2 engine turbine. The crew followed the procedure to move the thrust lever to the idle position and monitor the situation for 30 seconds. During that 30-second interval, the first officer noticed that the ECAM flashed a fire warning for one to two seconds before reverting to the overheat message, prompting the crew to attempt to shut down the Number 2 engine. The ECAM then displayed a message indicating that the Number 2 engine had failed. After determining that serious damage had occurred, the pilots twice tried to discharge one of the fire extinguisher bottles into the affected engine, but they received no confirmation of a successful discharge after either attempt. They then repeated the procedure with the second fire extinguisher. Again, they received no confirmation that it had discharged.
