BA engine issue at Heathrow

[TSR2]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22652718

It seems that the engine that went on fire (to some degree or other) was the opposite engine to the one that the cover flew off. Very odd to have incidents with two engines at the same time I'd have though.

[VC10]

Due to the engines being so low to the ground it is not unknown on the A320 series for the fan cowl latches to be missed when pre-flighting the a/c after maintenance, not withstanding the engineer who closed the cowls not latching them in the first place.

I suspect when the RH cowl went on its merry way it clipped a fuel pipe, causing the leak.

Paul

[Garry Russell]

Sometimes a bit flying off an engine gets ingested by another even one the other side where they hang well below the fuse.

[TSR2]

Looks like someone will be collecting their P45

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22732582

[TobyV]

The right engine was "extensively damaged" in the fire, the report said.

Well at least no one was killed or injured, but that's going to be expensive to fix. In a strange way it's good the doors broke away as early as they did. I wouldn't want to be walking along a pavement in west London and suddenly be clopped on the head by a piece of cowling having fallen from 2,000ft. A colleague of mine at work reckoned this is what had happened. I couldn't believe that something as simple as not ensuring the cowls were correctly closed could cause this, but seems I was wrong. I've flown on A32X family more than any other type and never heard of this happening. Does anyone (particularly those on here involved in a/c ,maintenance) if this is a risk only on the V2500 engine or could you make the same mistake on the CFM56 just as easily potentially?

[NigelC]

Cowls started coming off on rotation, 2 on runway, 2 in reservoir.

[ianhind]

I prefer to read the AAIB version rather than some journalist's interpretation: http://www.aaib.gov.uk/publications/spe ... g_euoe.cfm

And it seems there have been previous instances - lot of chatter on PPrune about that - and confirmed by comment on final page of AAIB report.

[TSR2]

Indeed there have Ian. I seem to recall a few in the press in the US in recent years, in fact I'm sure there was an image posted here. All the same, in all of the instances its been a failure to follow procedure rather than a failure of the latch itself.

[GHD]

One would gave thought there would be a tell-tale for the cowl doors?

[Garry Russell]

Ther is a pic that shows up now and then of a cowl missing from a high flying jetliner