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As far as I have picked up on that subject, passenger aircraft have multiple layers of protection against blades separating from the engine. The cowling is supp
by gmueckl 9y ago
As far as I have picked up on that subject, passenger aircraft have multiple layers of protection against blades separating from the engine. The cowling is supposed to contain it. If that does not work, the fuselage in the area of the wings is hardened to prevent the separating part(s) from entering the passenger compartment and doing damage there. This is typically implemented using a Kevlar lining on the hull.
The Quantas flight is remarkable in that engine parts were not contained successfully and managed to damage critical systems inside the wing not related to the engine itself. Some reports say that the flight crew was overwhelmed by over 50 individual failure reports resulting from this damage. I was actually quite surprised when I learned that it was so easy to damage that many major systems with a seemingly small puncture in a wing.
- JumpCrisscross 9y agoKeep in mind that the Quantas failure, while horrible, resulted in zero fatalities.
- bdamm 9y agoVery remarkable indeed, considering the damage to the landing gear, flaps, fuel tanks, and engine controls. The airplane at the time it landed was way out into the experimental flying zone. When people talk of pilot-less airliners I have to think of incidents like this. Pilots do make mistakes and people die as a result, but when equipment fails and nobody dies because a pilot does what is needed to land safely despite the issue, it rarely makes news. Sometimes people on board don't even know.
- justinjlynn 9y ago> Sometimes people on board don't even know. That's the ideal general case. You really don't want hundreds of panicked people trapped in a broken tin can thousands of feet above ground while you're trying to handle the situation.
- FabHK 9y agoAt least you (as a pilot) are behind a solid locked door in that scenario. However, that brings up another question I've been wondering about: Could the pax/cabin crew of an airplane collaborate in bringing a jet down, by e.g. all together going to the very front of the plane (near the cockpit door), moving the trim up, then all running to the very end of the plane, bringing it into an uncontrollable stall? I haven't really seen a satisfactory answer to that question. See Quora and Stackexchange (where I attempted an answer): https://www.quora.com/Would-a-passenger-jet-stall-if-all-the-passengers-rushed-to-the-back-of-the-aircraft https://www.quora.com/Would-a-passenger-jet-stall-if-all-the... https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/2507/can-passenger-movement-in-an-airliner-make-it-stall/37661#37661 https://aviation.stackexchange.com/questions/2507/can-passen...
- dredmorbius 9y agoWhislt technically correct (the best kind), attributing this to adequate engineering given scope of damage is difficult. I've reviewed this incident myself several times -- not a statement of my qualifications (nil), only familiarity -- and tremendous credit must be given the flight crew which included the presence of a check team (there were five pilots in the cockpit). One engine failed completely, two others were seriously degraded, aircraft control was minimal, fuel could not be dumped (leading to an overweight laading). The impression from one documentary was that the first officer spent much of his time overwhelmed with system reports which had to be cleared from his displays. Systems and information design and flows seem a net negative for this incident -- there is such a thing as too much information. Overall, many reserve margins were exceedingly tight. Your comment seems to me to grossly understate the severity, and overly credit Airbus and Rolls Royce, in this case