Turbine Engine Failure - Notable Uncontained Engine Failure Incidents

Notable Uncontained Engine Failure Incidents

• Qantas Flight 32: an Airbus A380 flying from Singapore to Sydney in 2010 had an oil fire in a Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine. There were no injuries or fatalities and the aircraft safely made it back to Singapore.
• Delta Air Lines Flight 1288: a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 flying from Pensacola, Florida to Atlanta in 1996 had a cracked compressor rotor hub failure on one of its Pratt & Whitney JT8D-219 engines. 2 died.
• United Airlines Flight 232: a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 flying from Denver to Chicago in 1989. The failure of the rear General Electric CF6-6 engine caused the loss of all hydraulics forcing the pilots to attempt a landing using differential thrust. 111 fatalities. Prior to the United 232 crash, the probability of a simultaneous failure of all three hydraulic systems was considered as high as a billion-to-one. However, the statistical models used to come up with this figure did not account for the fact that the number-two engine was mounted at the tail close to all the hydraulic lines, nor the possibility that an engine failure would release many fragments in many directions. Since then, more modern aircraft engine designs have focused on keeping shrapnel from penetrating the cowling or ductwork, and have increasingly utilized high-strength composite materials to achieve the required penetration resistance while keeping the weight low.
• Cameroon Airlines Flight 786: a Boeing 737 flying between Douala and Garoua, Cameroon in 1984 had a failure of a Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15 engine. 2 people died.
• Two LOT Polish Airlines flights, both Ilyushin Il-62s, suffered catastrophic uncontained engine failures in the 1980s. The first was in 1980 on LOT Flight 7, destroying the flight controls in a matter of seconds and killing all 87 on board. In 1987, a similar turbine failure happened on LOT Flight 5055. The aircraft's inner left (#2) engine, damaged the outer left (#1) engine, setting both on fire. Shrapnel from the explosion also penetrated the fuselage, causing a decompression. The crew tried unsuccessfully to return to the airport, with the aircraft ultimately losing control, breaking up, and crashing only moments short of an emergency landing. All 183 people on board were killed. In both cases, the turbine shaft in engine #2 disintegrated due to design flaws in the Soviet-made engines.
• National Airlines Flight 27: a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 flying from Miami to San Francisco in 1973 had an overspeed failure of a General Electric CF6-6. Only one fatality resulted.