Jetstar A320 incident: Substantial loss of power in one engine during climb

by B. N. Sullivan

On the evening of Mar. 15, 2010 an Airbus A320-232 aircraft (registration VH-VQO) operated by Australian airline Jetstar experienced a "substantial loss of power" in one engine shortly after departing Adelaide. The incident happened as Jetstar Flight JQ-670, which was bound for Darwin, was still climbing out. The aircraft returned to Adelaide where it landed safely; no one was injured. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has opened an investigation.

Although several news reports about the incident reported an engine fire (or worse), it is not clear exactly what happened. An initial report on the ATSB Web site classified the event as a "serious incident" and included this descriptive statement:

During the climb passing FL120, the aircraft experienced substantial power loss to the right engine. The crew secured the engine and returned to Adelaide.

A Northern Territory News article about the incident, which bore the blazing headline Wing on fire, emergency landing for Darwin flight, was subsequently quoted and elaborated upon by several other news outlets. The Northern Territory News piece quoted passengers from the flight who said that shortly after the seat belt sign went off they heard a loud bang, the cabin shook, and "Passengers on the right side of the plane were saying a big flame came from the right engine then all the lights on the right wing stopped working."

No mention of a wing on fire, except in the title of the article. In fact, the same article quoted a Jetstar spokesman who denied the plane was on fire, but said, "I can confirm some sparks may have been seen by some passengers."

Um, there's a big difference between "wing on fire" and "some sparks."

Another version of the story comes from the Aviation Herald, which, I should note, usually is a reliable source of information about aircraft accidents and safety incidents. According to the Aviation Herald, the trouble began about 12 minutes into the flight, when...

...a loud bang was heard, the airplane shuddered and streaks of flames were seen out of the right hand engine (V2527). The crew radioed "PAN PAN, PAN PAN, PAN PAN, Jetstar 670, Jetstar 670, engine fire". The crew shut the right hand engine down and set course back to Adelaide reporting, they did have no engine fire indication however fire was observed from the right hand engine. The fire had been extinguished, [and] a normal standby response for the landing rather than an emergency response was sufficient. The airplane returned to Adelaide for a safe landing on runway 23 about 30 minutes after takeoff. Emergency services reported after roll out, that no fire or smoke was visible. The airplane taxied to the apron with the emergency services in attendance.

Was it a surge? Compressor stall? Something ingested by the engine? Until we hear something further from the ATSB, let's just say the number two engine experienced a loss of power and was shut down, and the crew made an engine-out return to the departure airport for a safe landing. Presumably the passengers' heart rates had returned to normal by the time they continued on to Darwin the next day.

ATSB investigating Jetstar Airbus A330-200 in-flight cockpit fire

by B. N. Sullivan

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating an in-flight cockpit fire on a Jetstar A330-200 aircraft (registration VH-EBF). At the time of the incident, Jetstar Flight JQ20 was over the Pacific en route from Osaka, Japan to Coolangatta (Gold Coast), Australia. The aircraft diverted to Guam, where it made a safe emergency landing at about 02:20 local time today. There were four pilots, nine cabin crew, and 186 passengers on board, none of whom were injured.

News reports have stated that the fire began near the base of the first officer's windscreen. According to FlightGlobal.com, Jetstar said the fire was caused "by the electrical connector part of a cockpit window heater."

An article about the Jetstar incident in the Sydney Morning Herald quoted Jetstar's chief executive, Bruce Buchanan, who said the aircraft's computer system had detected a fault with the cockpit's windscreen heater "but whether it's an electrical problem I'm not sure".

"As far as we can tell it's just a freak accident. It looks like something has gone wrong with the wiring, but it's too early to say whether … it's the primary cause," Buchanan said.

In any case, it was reported that the crew quickly contained the fire and managed to extinguish it well before the aircraft landed at Guam.

The ATSB sent a team of investigators including operations, electrical engineer and licensed aircraft maintenance engineer to Guam to commence the investigation. The ATSB also said it has notified the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and the French Bureau dEnquêtes et dAnalyses pour la sécurité de laviation civile (BEA).

Qantas to reduce work force by 1,500 worldwide

Australian airline Qantas has just announced plans to let go 1,500 employees worldwide by December of this year. As a part of the work force reduction, the airline's call centers in Tucson, AZ, and London will be closed. The Jetstar crew base at Adelaide also will be shut down. (Jetstar is the low-fare subsidiary of Qantas.)

In a statement to the press, Chief Executive Officer of Qantas Airways Ltd, Geoff Dixon, said that in addition to the job cuts, Qantas would not implement its budgeted growth in flying in the 2008/09 financial year and would cancel plans to hire a further 1,200 people for that growth. Citing sustained high oil prices and changing economic conditions, Qantas also announced plans to retire 22 aircraft.

Mr Dixon said every effort would be made to achieve the job cuts through voluntary redundancy, early retirements, leave without pay, an accelerated leave program and converting positions from full-time to part time.

"However, some compulsory redundancies will be necessary, which we regret.

"The jobs to be cut will be principally concentrated in non-operational areas, although operational positions will also go."

"Over 20 per cent of our management and head office support jobs will be cut," he said.

Mr. Dixon maintained the job cuts and capacity reduction are necessary to "protect our competitive position, protect the great majority of over 36,000 jobs and enable us to grow profitably when conditions improve."

According to today's announcement, Qantas plans to:

• maintain a recruitment and executive pay freeze for the foreseeable future
• reduce forecast capacity growth in 2008/09 from eight per cent to nil growth
• retire up to 22 older aircraft from its fleet of 228 (including announcements previously made)
• close its long-running call centres in Tucson, Arizona and London at a cost of 99 jobs, and concentrate all its call centre activity in Australia and New Zealand
• suspend Jetstar's recruitment program until the end of the year, including its recruitment of pilots under the 457 visa program
• close Jetstar's cabin crew and pilot base in Adelaide by the end of August, with Jetstar's 37 return weekly Adelaide flights to remain and be serviced by aircraft and staff based in Darwin and Sydney
• proceed with its major fleet re-equipment program of new and more fuel efficient aircraft such as the A380 and B787
• proceed with its customer-focused product and service initiatives such as domestic Business class lounges, terminal facilities and opening the new Qantas Customer Service Centre of Excellence

Mr. Dixon noted that agreements reached earlier this week with the unions representing the airline's engineers and pilots "provided greater flexibility for Qantas and its pilots and its engineers, certainty at a volatile and difficult time and maintenance of a sustainable wages policy."

Qantas already had undertaken several moves to restructure in the past few months, including cutting unprofitable routes, and raising fares, and closing a Jetstar crew base in Cairns.