Invisible Threat Destroyed the Engines | The Story of Flight 780

cath Pacific flight 780 is in its descent flying on just one functioning engine when an engine one stall message appears on the ecam things have gone from bad to worse as they have now lost their last functioning engine which they relied on to reach Hong Kong their situation became an emergency and the cockpit workload increased significantly the crew declared a Mayday advising Hong Kong approach of the double engine stall situation the clock is ticking and the fate of the passengers and crew lies in the hands of the two pilots will they manage to land the aircraft safely this is the story of cath Pacific flight 780 it's the 13th of April 2010 and Cath Pacific flight 780 is being prepared for its Journey from Wanda International Airport in Indonesia to Hong Kong International Airport in China the aircraft for this journey is an Airbus A330 fitted with two Rolls-Royce engines before the flight to Hong Kong the captain performed a pre-flight inspection to ensure the aircraft was safe and ready for departure he completed the walk around inspection with no abnormalities identified he noticed that the fueling dispenser operator was conducting a water check on the fuel sample the fuel sample in the beaker was clear and bright and the water check was clean but unbeknownst to the captain during the refueling there were several occasions where vibrations in the fueling hose occurred the dispenser operator considered the vibrations due to air trapped inside the hydrant piping which had been disturbed by recent extension work he stopped the refueling each time to Halt the vibrations and then resumed the process afterward however these vibrations were a Sinister warning sign of a much Graver issue the refueling trucks Pump Fuel from underground tanks through a filter on the truck and into the aircraft saltwater had inadvertently entered the fuel supply and degraded the superabsorbent polymer filters or sap filters these filters are designed to remove water from the fuel but when exposed to salt water they break down releasing small sap particles in into the fuel system these particles did not cause immediate visible issues and thus were not detected during routine checks however these little particles were ticking time bombs that would cause enormous problems during the flight the aircraft had approximately 10,000 kg of fuel remaining from the previous flight and an additional 24,400 kg was loaded as planned by cath Pacific Airway ways after verifying the fuel levels and ensuring that all safety checks were complete the captain gave the final go-ahead for boarding and 309 passengers boarded the aircraft the crew consisted of two pilots and 11 cabin attendant the captain Malcolm Waters was 35 years old and had worked for cath Pacific for 12 years he had accumulated over 7,000 flying hours with 2500 on the A330 for this flight he was the pilot monitoring the first officer David was 37 years old and had just over 4,000 flight hours 1,000 of which were on the A330 much of his previous flying experience was with the Australian Air Force where he had served for 11 years for this flight he was the pilot flying after all passengers had taken their seats the Airbus was pushed back from the gate following a short taxi they arrived at Runway 28 the wind was variable at 2 knots with 7 km of visibility scattered clouds were at 1,800 ft and a few cumul nimbus clouds were at 2,000 ft the temperature was 28° C at 24 8 in the morning the crew received clearance for takeoff and the co-pilot moved the thrust levers forward the Airbus began its acceleration down the runway and 30 seconds later the aircraft lifted off gracefully ascending into the morning [Music] Sky passengers settled in for their flight enjoying the Serene views as their adventure to Hong Kong began it was a few minutes after takeoff that the pilots noticed abnormal engine pressure ratios on both engines with engine number two experiencing more severe fluctuations than engine number one these were the first signs of trouble epr or engine pressure ratio measures the engine's efficiency by comparing the pressure of the exhaust gases to the pressure of the air entering the engine abnormal fluctuations in epr indicate instability in this ratio suggesting potential engine performance issues then over half an hour after takeoff cruising at flight level 390 the electronic centralized aircraft monitoring system or ecam displayed an error message alerting the crew to a control system fault in engine into two the right side [Music] engine following the initial check and troubleshooting a second message appeared this message indicated that engine 2 was responding slower than expected to throttle inputs this can be caused by various issues such as fuel system problems obstruction of the air intake system mechanical issues or sensor malfunctions the crew contacted maintenance control to discuss the fluctuations the maintenance engineer on the other end of the line asked the pilots to move the thrust levers and observe how the engines responded they did this and noted that the engine pressure ratio was still fluctuating however the crew decided to continue the flight to Hong Kong because the other engine parameters were normal not knowing that the problem would only worsen as they started to descend to 38,000 ft the engine 2 control system fault warning reappeared on the [Music] ecam along with the engine 2 slow response warning and a warning advising the pilots to avoid rapid thrust changes the pilots turned on the engine anti system to see if this would fix the abnormal epr readings but this did not affect the fluctuation they contacted maintenance control again and informed them that the fluctuations had increased they asked whether it was safe to continue the flight to Hong Kong the maintenance control engineer on the other end of the line suggested that the epr fluctuations in engine one could be caused by the flight computer attempting to adjust for the irregularity in Engine 2 he instructed the crew to monitor parameters carefully avoid rapid thrust changes and follow the flight crew operating manual or fcom procedures if any exceedances occurred He also mentioned that the fuel metering unit in Engine 2 would be replaced upon arrival in Hong Kong the crew accepted his explanation and continued the flight another 2 hours had passed and the problem was only getting worse without the pilots realizing it the aircraft was now descending to Hong Kong about 23 km southeast of the international airport when the unexpected happened the captain heard a faint pop sound followed by a sharp ozone and burning [Music] smell immediately after the aircraft's ecam displayed multiple errors within a short period this indicated that engine one was also malfunctioning while the second message signified an engine compressor stall a potentially severe engine problem an engine compressor stall is a condition where the air flow through the compressor stage of a jet engine is disrupted resulting in a sudden loss of compression pressure this can lead to decreased thrust abnormal vibrations and sometimes loud bangs or explosion like noises the flight crew promptly carried out the necessary ecam actions moving the number two engine's thrust lever to idle the minimum thrust setting position they then set the number one engine to maximum continuous thrust to compensate for the low thrust of the number two engine however engine number one's N1 the speed of the engine's low pressure compressor a key indicator of engine power only temporarily increased to about 57% before dropping back to about 37% they were in big trouble engine number two was dead while engine number one ran too slowly faced with the emergency the crew promptly declared a pan pan to Hong Kong Air Traffic Control urgently requesting to shorten their track for a priority Landing permission was granted to proceed directly to Waypoint limes in response air traffic control alerted the airport fire contingent by declaring a local standby ensuring Emergency Services were on high [Music] alert as per standard operating procedures for a one engine in operative scenario the captain took control of the aircraft as the pilot flying and the co-pilot became the pilot monitoring the captain instructed the cabin crew to prepare the cabin for landing he also communicated with the inflight service manager and informed her that there was an issue with engine number two and that ATC had granted them a priority Landing so far the situation was still somewhat manageable at least it seemed that way but with every liter of fuel flowing into the engines the situation worsened and a few minutes later about 83 km southeast of Hong Kong International Airport an engine one stall message appeared on the ecam things have gone from bad to worse the monitoring system indicates they've just lost the other engine the one they were counting on to get the aircraft to Hong [Music] Kong their situation quickly turned into an emergency and the cockpit workload increased significantly following Airbus and Company procedures for the A330 the crew declared a Mayday advising Hong Kong approach of the double engine stall situation they were immediately cleared to descend to 3,000 ft the captain disconnected the autopilot and the flight directors and flew the aircraft manually ecam actions were carried out and the thrust for engine number one was reduced to the idle position Auto thrust was disengaged and with both engines at idle the captain tested their control ability by adjusting the throttle for each engine one at a time no thrust changes corresponded to the adjustments meaning the aircraft had effectively turned into a giant glider sap particles released due to the degradation of the filters when exposed to saltwater clogged the main metering valve this valve is crucial for regulating the fuel flow to the engines it consists of a piston that slides within a cylinder when Pilots adjust the thrust levers the Piston increases or decreases fuel flow to the a330s turbofan engines however during the flight the valve was not responding to the commands because it was clogged with sap particles preventing it from moving as required and disrupting the fuel flow to the engines fearing a loss of electrical power if both engines failed the flight crew selected the auxiliary power unit to on and switched the engine start selector to ignition the captain then moved the thrust levers again to test the engine responses the N1 speed of the number one engine eventually increased to about 74% with the thrust lever in the climb detent position while engine number two remained running below idle speed ATC made both runways 07 left and 07 right available for landing the flight crew carried out the all engine flameout fuel remaining checklist from the quick reference handbook for engine number two in an attempt to clear the thrust control fault the ram air turbine was manually deployed the Apu bleed was selected to on and the number two engine master switch was set to off and then on [Music] however engine number two remained at a sub idle speed the crew then set the flaps to one and attempted to decrease the speed for landing by reducing the thrust on engine number one however there was no corresponding decrease in its speed the engine continued running as if the thrust was still set for climbing but it wasn't they were now flying way too fast for a normal Landing creating a very dangerous situation the captain then publicly announced to the passengers that there was a small problem with the engines and requested that they remain seated and follow directions from the cabin crew High drag devices such as speed breakes and landing gear were deployed however due to the high thrust from engine number one it was clear that they would be landing at high speed fully aware of the critical situation the captain visually maneuvered the aircraft to achieve a touchdown as close as possible to the start of the runway due to the high workload and limited time the crew didn't inform ATC about the abnormally high-speed approach the aircraft was flown in a zigzag pattern to gain additional time to slow down despite these efforts the speed remained High now only a minute from touchdown the overspeed warning sounded indicating they were flying too [Music] fast Hong Kong approach granted clearance for the flight to land on Runway 07 left informing them that the surface wind was from the southeast at 13 knots their speed was significantly higher than usual so fast that the flight computer didn't recognize the landing attempt triggering the ground proximity warning system terrain ahead pull up as they descended through 900 ft the crew stowed the speed brakes even though these were to prevent the speed from increasing further they were too dangerous to leave extended any longer doing so would lead to the plane hitting the runway too hard on Landing the crew then selected flaps to two but a flashing F relief message was displayed on the engine warning display as the flaps were extended to an 8° position instead of the commanded 14° position the runway was coming closer every second as they flew at an alarming speed the pilots were fully concentrated aware of the challenging Landing ahead the aircraft systems beeped warnings adding to the tense atmosphere in the cockpit [Music] after a tense and stressful descent they touched down on Runway 07 left immediately after both main gears hit the runway the right main gear bounced causing the aircraft to briefly become airborne again the plane then rolled left 7° and pitched down again during which the lower cowling of engine number one scraped the runway surface spoilers deployed automatically maximum manual braking was applied and both engine thrust reversers were selected but only the thrust reverser for engine number one deployed successfully the aircraft came to a complete stop on the runway just past taxiway A10 with its nose wheel about 309 M from the end of the runway the total distance for stopping the aircraft from the initial touchdown was approximately 2,600 M but it was not over yet after the parking brake was set to on the captain made an announcement requesting the passengers to remain seated while they evaluated the situation engine number one was still running at 79% thrust despite being set to idle the flight crew then shut down both engines by selecting the number one and number two engine Master switches to off the brake temperatures reached the top of the scale at 995 de C on the cockpit display prompting the flight crew to contact ATC and ask for any indication of a wheel fire the tower controller said she had not seen any fire yet and suggested contacting the rescue leader the rescue leader confirmed that the brakes on the left and right gears were hot and that he could see smoke and a small fire the captain then ordered an emergency evacuation and shut down the Apu by using the fire push button all eight emergency exit doors were used after the cabin crew had confirmed the absence of fire or smoke outside the exits some pass passers took their cabin bags along and did not follow the crew's instructions to leave them behind before jumping onto the slides the entire evacuation was completed in about 2 minutes and 15 seconds the captain the co-pilot and the in-flight service manager walked through the cabin to ensure no one was left inside the aircraft before they exited fortunately all passengers got off the plane safely and everyone survived after the accident an extensive investigation took place it was found that the refueling facility at Wanda International Airport had recently undergone an overhaul which involved replacing several underground fuel pipes heavy rain caused salt water to overflow from a nearby Pond during this process and inevitably enter the system as the giant steel pipes were cut measured and resealed The Saltwater had inadvertently entered the fuel supp Supply and degraded the superabsorbent polymer filters causing small sap particles to enter the air bus's fuel system these little particles caused the main metering valves of the fuel metering unit to seize causing both engines to malfunction the valves were stuck in positions corresponding to the recorded thrust output of each engine as it approached Hong Kong fortunately everything turned out well thanks to the skilled actions of the pilots who managed the situation ation effectively despite the difficulties don't forget to subscribe to our Channel and leave a like if you found this video informative

Channel: Air Crash Investigation

Views: 205,112

Keywords: airbus, boeing, aviation, cathay pacific, Juanda Surabaya Airport, Super Absorbent Polymers SAP, A330, Cathay flight 780, No Engine control, Seconds from disaster, Hero pilot, Fuel contamination, air crash, air crash investigation, air crash investigation 2024, Cathay Pacific flight 780

Id: lPeZr9uSfTg

Length: 22min 18sec (1338 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 09 2024