A Cathay Pacific Airbus A350’s engine failed during a flight earlier this month because of a damaged fuel hose, which also showed signs of a fire, Hong Kong’s aviation accident investigators revealed on Thursday.
The Zurich-bound passenger flight CX383 had to return to Hong Kong International Airport just over an hour after takeoff on Sept 2, following an engine fire warning, prompting the Hong Kong flag carrier to inspect all 48 A350 jets.
The investigation was conducted by the Air Accident Investigation Authority, an independent investigative body under the city’s Transport and Logistics Bureau.
During its investigation, the agency discovered a ruptured fuel hose in the second engine of the A350-1041 jet.
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“Black soot was observed on the aft section of the core engine, indicating signs of a fire. Burn marks were also noted on the underside of the two thrust reverser cowls,” the agency said in its preliminary report.
Five additional secondary fuel hoses were also found to have either frayed metal braids or collapsed structures within the hose, it added.
The report, using the investigative term “serious incident” — which indicates a high probability of an accident — cautioned that “coupled with other contributing factors, such as the presence of oxygen and an ignition (heat) source, this could result in a fire that could spread to the surrounding area. If not promptly detected and addressed, this situation, along with further failures, could escalate into a more serious engine fire, potentially causing extensive damage to the aircraft.”
The authority recommended that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency instruct Rolls-Royce Deutschland to develop continuing airworthiness information, including inspection requirements for the secondary fuel manifold hoses of its engines, to ensure their serviceability.
A spokesperson for the Hong Kong agency said that the preliminary report aimed to provide factual information to both the aviation industry and the general public in a timely manner.
The investigation team is conducting a detailed analysis of the data and information to determine the circumstances and causes of this occurrence and to identify areas for further investigation.
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Following the Sept 2 engine fire, Cathay Pacific inspected all of its A350 jets, identifying 15 aircraft with engine components requiring replacement. The inspections and repairs to the Rolls-Royce engines that power its fleet of 48 A350 jets led the airline to cancel 45 return flights on mostly regional Asian routes that week.
The airline apologized to the customers whose travel plans were affected by the incident. Cathay’s chief operations and service delivery officer, Alex McGowan, said on Sept 4 that “this was a significant situation for Cathay to manage, as the engine component failure was the first of its type to occur on any A350 aircraft anywhere in the world.”
On Sept 6, Hong Kong’s Civil Aviation Department confirmed that Cathay Pacific had complied with an emergency airworthiness directive issued by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency that day.
The directive, applicable to all airlines operating A350 aircraft powered by the specified engines worldwide, required inspections following the Cathay Airbus engine component failure.
