Gordon Werner

Airbus probe focuses on newly installed engine

By Robert Melnbardis

MONTREAL, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Investigators probing Friday's emergency landing without power of an Air Transat Airbus A330-200 in the Azores with 304 people aboard are focusing on a fuel leak in an engine installed only four days earlier, officials said.

In bulletins obtained by Reuters, Airbus and Rolls-Royce said on Wednesday that the fuel loss came from a crack in the engine's fuel line, which may have been the result of chafing against another pipe.

Airbus asked all operators of similar Rolls-Royce Trent 700 series engines to inspect the two pipes within 72 hours.

Seychelle Harding, spokeswoman for Montreal-based Air Transat, Canada's largest charter airline, said the Rolls-Royce engine installed on Sunday in the airliner replaced one in which routine maintenance found two tiny metal particles.

"The change was started on the 18th of August and ended on August 19th," she told Reuters.

Part of a pool of leased engines owned by Rolls-Royce and made available to airlines, the "nearly new" engine subsequently clocked 60 to 70 flight hours before Air Transat Flight 236 took off on Thursday evening for an overnight flight from Toronto to Lisbon.

Both engines of the airliner shut down after the pilot discovered the fuel leak and made an emergency diversion to the Azores island of Terceira.

In a feat rarely heard of in international aviation, the 49-year-old pilot, Capt. Robert Piche, flew the stricken jet for 20 minutes without engine power, gliding it to a successful landing at Lajes Airport on Terceira.

The Azores are located about 1,450 km (900 miles) west of Portugal.

Portuguese authorities leading the investigation of the incident are focusing on a leak in a fuel feed pipe on the big jet's right, or No. 2, engine.

CRACKED FUEL LINE

In a message sent on Wednesday to all operators of Trent engines, Airbus, Boeing Co. and others, Rolls-Royce said: "The crack was caused by contact with a pipe from the hydraulic pump."

The British engineering group also said: "Operators are advised to check all engines, including spares, to ensure that there is no contact between these pipes, paying particular attention to the bend of the fuel pipe closest to the connection with the HP (hydraulic pipe) fuel pump."

In its own bulletin to operators of the Trent 700 engines, Airbus said it required the inspection, which takes 30 minutes, be done within 72 hours. It added that the positioning of the two pipes had been modified as part of a Rolls-Royce service bulletin dated March 29, 1999.

Air Canada, the country's largest carrier and world No. 10, completed inspections of the 16 Trent 700 engines on its eight A330-300s on Tuesday. The airline confirmed the engines were ``in normal, safe operating condition and meet the manufacturers'
most recent modification standards."

In Ottawa, Transport Canada said that, to date, there have been no other reported cases of fuel line cracks on Canadian-operated Airbus A330 aircraft.

Meanwhile, Canadian and French authorities are assisting Portuguese investigators in the Air Transat inquiry, which is examining all aspects of the harrowing flight. Airbus and Rolls-Royce are providing technical assistance.

Canada is also auditing the maintenance and flight operations of Air Transat, the main operating unit of Transat AT Inc.

The, jet with 291 passengers and 13 crew members aboard, was past the midway point of its flight to Lisbon when Piche and First Officer Dirk De Jager discovered the fuel leak.

The flight deck crew diverted to Lajes, the nearest airport, but within moments, the right engine shut down. Some 13 minutes later, the left engine also failed.

Piche flew the jet on only basic instrument and controls, aided by a ram air turbine, a small propeller-driven generator that popped out from a wing into the airstream.

Piche has been hailed as a hero by the passengers, aviation experts and Canadian officials for his white-knuckle landing, which blew out eight of the aircraft's 10 tires.

The jet ground to a halt on the tarmac, sparks and flames shooting from its damaged landing gear. Less than a dozen passengers were treated for minor injuries.

Friday's "deadstick" landing by Capt. Piche is the second such dramatic incident in Canadian aviation history.

In 1983, an Air Canada Boeing 767 lost all power on a domestic flight and pilot Bob Peason glided the plane, carrying 69 people, to a safe landing at an abandoned military airstrip in Gimli, Manitoba.