Engine Explosions Prompt Rolls Royce to Improve on Safety Process
Rolls Royce said on Thursday that it has implemented measures to correct the manufacturing errors seen on its engine components that nearly caused a Qantas Airways flight to explode while in mid-air in November 2010.
Based on the investigation conducted by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), probers determined that the oil feeder pipe attached on engines supplied by Rolls Royce to Airbus A380s were defective.
One such component cracked shortly after take-off of Qantas Flight QF32, allowing some oil to leak that eventually caught fire and led to the plane's engine explosion over Indonesia.
Ensuing inquiry revealed that Rolls Royce had modified the internal engine modules, known as Mod A, B and C, without giving due notices to both Airbus and Qantas.
That action led to confusion May last year as the ATSB admitted that discrepancies appraised from the modules prevented them from formulating a conclusion that would have established if Rolls Royce completed its products with utmost regard to safety standards.
The gaps cited by ATSB investigators, according to the Sydney Morning Herald, delayed further findings on the glitch that attended the oil pipe feeder and possibly to pinpoint issues that may have arose "prior to, during and after the manufacture of the assemblies."
Those mistakes, however, have been duly addressed by Rolls Royce by this time, according to ATSB general manager Ian Sangston.
The British engine manufacturer's procedure for checking the safety standards of its products has vastly improved, Sangston said.
"There was a more robust process for sampling parts from manufacturing batches; better record-keeping, risk assessment and parts tracking; and a process for predicting likely effects of component failure," the ATSB official was quoted by SMH as saying in a report.
He added that the agency will continue its investigation for a target completion by the latter part of 2012.
On its part, Rolls Royce admitted that many lessons were learned after the near-disaster episodes that somewhat sullied the integrity of the world's oldest engine-making company.
In a statement, Rolls Royce spokesman Richard Hedges said that the learned its lessons well and "these are embedded in the rigorous safety procedures and standards of regulation, which make flying an extraordinarily safe form of transport."
"We are working closely with the ATSB to make sure that all the issues raised in their report are effectively addressed," Hedges assured too.