Crashed?

[mudskipper]

Reuters

(Reuters) - Qantas told CNBC television that a plane that crashed near Singapore was an Airbus A380. No other details were immediately available.

The plane can carry more than 500 passengers. Witnesses said they had heard an explosion over the Indonesian island of Batam.

Sydney Morning Herald

Qantas jet engine fails
Matt O'Sullivan
November 4, 2010 - 2:37PM

A Qantas A380 has been forced to return to Singapore's Changi Airport after pilots were forced to shut down one of its four engines.

QF32 was bound for Sydney when the engine failed.

A Qantas spokesman said the problems were with engine number two. She did not know why the engine had to be shut down.

The incident sparked widespread rumours over the internet through Twitter, that the plane had crashed, which Qantas said were wildly inaccurate.

[mudskipper]

Not crashed - Reuters have changed their mind. Phew.

[NickFitz]

"Reuters said that they'd heard off somebody that Qantas had told CNBC that..."

That's the problem with news agencies: they don't have to adhere to any journalistic standards (and nor should they be expected to - they merely act as a firehose for information without judging its worth or validity) but the information they spew out tends to get reported as news by lazy journalists who can't be bothered to establish the facts. In reality, the majority of what comes out of news agencies should be treated on the same lines as "Somebody down the pub said..." until the story has been checked out by non-lazy journalists, for journalists do have a responsibility to seek to publish only the verified truth, their words being a matter of record.

Meanwhile: Qantas plane makes emergency landing in Singapore, according to a news service (not agency) with a fine reputation for quality journalism

[mudskipper]

"Reuters said that they'd heard off somebody that Qantas had told CNBC that..."

A bit like reading your news on CUK.i

[NickFitz]

A bit like reading your news on CUK.i

I never have any news

[mudskipper]

It was a generic "your". I like your Monday links!

[FiveTimes]

The plane can carry more than 500 passengers. Witnesses said they had heard an explosion over the Indonesian island of Batam.

Qantas don't carry more than 450 passengers on the A380 yet. That was planned to increase in the future.

[EternalOptimist]

I never have any news

thats news to me

[EternalOptimist]

LATEST -

Quantas have confirmed that after the plane had landed, and the three remaining engines were switched off, there was still a loud whining coming from the aircraft.
They have asked MF to leave the plane

[hyperD]

Reading and seeing pictures on PPRuNe suggest uncontained engine failure on #2. Although perfectly OK to fly on 3 engines there appears to have been some engine debris that has gone through part of the wing.

There is also a suggestion that the pilot was unable to shutdown engine #1 after landing suggesting that the engine controls were damaged. Pictures show fire crew dousing the area around engine #1 suggesting that they were trying to flood the engine to stop it. Again, difficult to say.

Another picture shows part of the turbine casing from the damaged engine that is now being taken back to the investigation site.

One picture shows the front gear doors opened on the stationary a/c which normally suggest some hydraulic failure but it's difficult to tell at this stage - they may be open for another reason.

Although the media always get hysterical about anything to do with aviation incidents, an engine shutdown in flight is a relatively predictable incident to deal with. However, an uncontained engine failure is of more concern as normally engine casings are designed to contain the moving parts in the event of a catastrophic failure of the turbine to stop them penetrating the cabin and wings (some should pass through the engine exhaust outlet).

Interesting.