A gas leak that led to the Cathay Pacific Airbus A350’s engine to blaze earlier this month could have caused significant damage, according to investigators.
Due to an “engine component failure,” Hong Kong’s top airline forced planes to move around a couple of weeks before, forcing them to do so.
The Trent XWB-97 website was made by British engineering large Rolls-Royce.
A broken fuel hose, one of a number of damage-causing factors, was identified as the cause of the incident, according to a preliminary report from Hong Kong’s Air Accident Investigation Authority ( AAIA ).
Rolls-Royce and Cathay Pacific have been contacted for remark.
The incident took place immediately after the aircraft was set to depart Hong Kong for Zurich in early September. The aircraft received a fire notice in the pilot, shut down the engine and deployed fire extinguisher.
The plane, which was carrying 348 passengers and crew, landed carefully up in Hong Kong.
However, the affair raised questions about Cathay Pacific’s A350 fleet’s safety, especially after tests found issues with another 15 plane.
A gas hose’s protective surround ruptured, leaving” a discernible opening in the hose,” according to the initial statement. Soot and burn marks were present in sections of the website that indicated a fire.
Additional inspections revealed that the same engine’s five gasoline tubes were also inoperable.
If not promptly detected and addressed, the report said, this situation could have escalated “into a more serious engine fire, potentially causing extensive damage to the aircraft.”
The AAIA suggested that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency ( EASA ) request that Rolls-Royce develop new inspection standards for the relevant engines in order to address the issue.
EASA issued an” Emergency Airworthiness Directive” days after the incident. Operators using the same kind of website had to perform inspections of fuel pipes and replace any that were “potentially compromised.”
In 2016, Cathay Pacific received the second Airbus A350. The long-haul ships of flights around the world are quickly gaining a foothold thanks to the aircraft. Its higher efficiency and low operating costs are its key selling points.
The website is a crucial component of that performance. Rolls-Royce created the Trent XWB for the A350 precisely. Initial concerns about the potential for a serious issue to affect the global A350 ships were raised by the event. That would have been a significant loss for the American company.
But, it quickly became clear that the problem was more rooted in the engine’s internal fuel lines than the internal components. That meant the issue may be resolved fairly quickly, without the need for a costly makeover.
The XWB-97, a high-power version of the website that was fitted to a select few long-range aircraft, was also only affected by it.
This time, Rolls-Royce announced plans to invest greatly to strengthen its variety of vehicles, including the Trent XWB-97.
In 2023, Tim Clark, the director of sea ship Dubai, voiced concerns about the strength of the motor and the rates Rolls-Royce charged for repair.