Air Bridge Cargo B748 at Shanghai on Sep 11th 2012, rejected takeoff

Last Update: September 21, 2012 / 14:56:29 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Sep 11, 2012

Classification
Incident

Flight number
RU-198

Aircraft Registration
VQ-BLR

Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-8

ICAO Type Designator
B748

An Air Bridge Cargo Boeing 747-8 freighter, registration VQ-BLR performing flight RU-198 from Shanghai Pudong (China) to Moscow Domodedovo (Russia) with 2 crew, rejected takeoff from Shanghai's Pudong Airport after one of the left hand engines (GEnx-2B67) failed at around 11:20L (03:20Z). The aircraft slowed safely. A subsequent runway inspection revealed a lot of metallic debris on the runway along a distance of 2500 meters/8200 feet.

The runway was closed until 15:00L until all debris was collected and the runway had been sweeped.

Russia's Rosaviatsia (Civil Aviation Authority) reported the crew received a fan speed reduction indication of the outboard left hand engine #1 with the aircraft showing a tendency to turn left, rejected takeoff at about 50 knots (low speed) and returned to the apron. A subsequent inspection revealed turbine blades had been destroyed (contained engine failure). The engine is going to be replaced and sent for investigation to detect the reasons of internal destruction.

The NTSB issued two urgent safety recommendations to the FAA to
- require ultrasonic scans before any prior use of GEnx engines for midshaft fractures
- require repetitive on-wing inspections of the engine at sufficiently short intervals in order to be able to detect cracks before it could reach a critical length.

The NTSB reported that during the takeoff run of VQ-BLR while accelerating through 50 knots the crew observed a reduction in the N1 speed indication of the #1 engine. The aircraft returned to the ramp where an inspection revealed extensive damage to the low pressure turbine.

Photos of that damage are similiar to an earlier engine failure in Charleston,SC (USA), where during a pre-first flight low speed taxi test the #2 engine's N1 indication rolled back after the low pressure turbine shaft shifted aft resulting in extensive damage to low pressure turbine blades and vanes. Further examination subsequently revealed the forward end of the fan midshaft had separated at the rear of threads. That engine had not been used in flight, it had only been run in post production tests and post installation ground runs in Charleston. A similiar crack had been detected on another engine during examinations as result of the engine failure in Charleston.

On Sep 21st 2012 the FAA released Airworthiness Directive 2012-19-08 putting the NTSB recommendations into effect and defining the repetitive inspection interval at 90 days.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Sep 11, 2012

Classification
Incident

Flight number
RU-198

Aircraft Registration
VQ-BLR

Aircraft Type
Boeing 747-8

ICAO Type Designator
B748

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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