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Chalk this one up to either dumb luck or stupid
mistake resistant design.
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But a commercial jet just managed to fly the
equivalent of almost two weeks with a tool
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stuck in one of its engines.
A newly published report from the Australian
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Transport Safety Bureau details the adventures
of the Airbus a 380 that picked up the Stowaway
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on December 7th 2023 after maintenance
engineers forgot about the lost tool procedures
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before sending the aircraft back into service.
The Qantas Airways Jet was in Los Angeles while
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undergoing an inspection on the left outboard
engines, intermediate pressure compressor.
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One of the engineers who had checked out the
tool, a roughly 4 ft nylon rod headed out early
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for a medical appointment and left the
remainder of the inspection to the other
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engineer.
When the work was finished, the subsequent
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inspections failed to see the tool was still
stuck in the engine compressor.
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Later the next day, the aircraft departed Los
Angeles for Melbourne.
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It flew 34 cycles totalling 294 hours with the
tool in the engine until its next scheduled
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maintenance check according to the report.
Although the tool was found to have been
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deformed by high energy airflow.
There was no damage observed to the engine
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itself and luckily the tool didn’t cause any
operational problems while the aircraft was in
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flight after the tool was discovered.
Quantas engineering said it immediately briefed
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staff on the importance of ensuring all tooling
is returned and actioned by tool store
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personnel.
The airline also completed an internal
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investigation and issued a safety directive
stressing the importance of complying with
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company tool control requirements.
A TSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said
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quote, foreign object debris and damage can
pose a significant threat to the safe operation
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of aircraft which is why regular procedures and
training are in place to limit the risk of
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foreign object damage especially from
introduced objects during maintenance.
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In this case, the Qantas engineers managed to
avoid dire consequences for their mistake but
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forgetting random objects in a jet engine
doesn’t always work out as evidenced by an
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incident last year when a flashlight was left
in an F-35 resulting in $4 million in damages.
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I’ve been m and this is manufacturing now.