Royal Brunei B772 near London on Dec 27th 2012, suspected engine damage

Last Update: August 8, 2013 / 16:15:00 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Dec 27, 2012

Classification
Incident

Airline
Royal Brunei Airlines

Flight number
BI-98

Departure
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Destination
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Aircraft Registration
V8-BLF

Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-200

ICAO Type Designator
B772

A Royal Brunei Airlines Boeing 777-200, registration V8-BLF performing flight BI-98 from London Heathrow,EN (UK) to Dubai (United Arab Emirates), was climbing out of Heathrow's runway 27R when the crew stopped the climb at FL230 reported they suspected damage to the right hand engine (Trent 892). The aircraft returned to London Heathrow for a safe landing on runway 27L about 45 minutes after stopping the climb at FL230.

On Aug 8th 2013 the AAIB released their bulletin reporting that the aircraft was climbing through FL150 when loud rumbling noises were heard associated with light vibrations and EGT exceedance of the right hand engine. The crew worked the relevant checklists which restored all engine parameters into normal range, the crew decided to return to London nonetheless and performed a safe overweight landing.

A post flight inspection revealed that a large section of the inboard thrust reverser inner wall structure was missing and the engine nozzle was damaged. The AAIB reported: "A considerable amount of the missing composite structure was recovered later that day from a property in Broxbourne, Hertfordshire."

This was the 15th event of thrust reverser inner wall structure having gone missing, the manufacturer had already issued a number of service bulletins to mitigate the issue which focussed on the effectiveness of the insulation blanket in protecting the composite structure from heat. The modification, issued in 2009, however had not yet been approved by EASA at the time of the incident.

The technical examination showed that V8-BLF was fitted with the standard insulation blanket. One of the compression rods carrying the hoop stresses in the inner wall, did not correctly engage with the receptor cup when the thrust reverser was closed, which resulted in damage to the insulation blanket. The investigation as to why the blanket was damaged and misaligned is continuing.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Dec 27, 2012

Classification
Incident

Airline
Royal Brunei Airlines

Flight number
BI-98

Departure
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Destination
Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Aircraft Registration
V8-BLF

Aircraft Type
Boeing 777-200

ICAO Type Designator
B772

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