China Eastern flight bound for Shanghai had to return to Sydney after about an hour due to damage to Rolls-Royce engine casing

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

A China Eastern flight from Sydney to Shanghai was forced to turn around after a hole appeared in one of its engine casings, causing a mid-air emergency.

Passengers spoke of their terror after hearing a loud noise followed by a “burning” smell. The Airbus 330 was forced to circle for an hour before touching down safely.

Images show a huge hole in the Trent 700 engine, designed and developed by Rolls-Royce in Derby.

Investigators are now understood to be examining the role played by part of the “nacelle”, the aviation industry term for the casing that surrounds a jet engine.

Issues with the nacelle on the Trent 700 have previously been the subject of an “airworthiness directive” from aviation safety regulators who warned of the potential for “damage to the engine or reduced control of the aeroplane”.

The Trent 700 is made by Rolls-Royce but the damaged air intake cowl is manufactured for the British company by Canadian firm Bombardier.



China Xinhua News (@XHNews) #ChinaEastern flight #MU736 returns after engine fault detected after take-off from Sydney, no casualties https://t.co/8S7j3p3nvX pic.twitter.com/txkuxpMLwM

Jim Roberts (@nycjim) China Eastern flight makes emergency landing in Sydney after huge hole appears in engine casing. https://t.co/exDObcjnaX via @SCMP_News pic.twitter.com/s4Qbl9ih9p

Flight MU736 left Sydney bound for Shanghai at 8.30pm on Sunday evening but pilots reported problems about an hour into the journey. It returned to Sydney where it landed safely and passengers were evacuated with no injuries, according to China Eastern Airlines.

“The moment that we took off the wing to my left just started making a massive amount of noise and they cleared all the seats,” a passenger told the Nine Network.



“We went up in the air and all of a sudden ... it kind of smelled like burning,” another passenger told Network Seven.

Brendan Grainger (@S118869) Listen as pilots of China Eastern flight #MU736 communicate with Sydney tower regarding engine #1 issue before returning to Sydney. pic.twitter.com/TO2QyGi8pr

With the majority of announcements on board made in Chinese, English-speaking passengers said they were struggling to find out any details.

“I was scared. Yes. I was really scared. Our group was terrified,” the passenger told Seven.

Another passenger, identified only as Eva, said the cabin crew tried to calm passengers and told them to fasten their seatbelts after a noise was heard.

“We were very panicked because we had no idea what was happening,” she told Channel 9 television.

“The crew observed the abnormal situation of the left engine and decided to return to Sydney airport immediately. All passengers and crew members were landed safely,” said Kathy Zhang, a general manager at China Eastern Airlines.

Passengers were put up in hotels at Sydney airport and were expected to depart for Shanghai later on Monday morning. Despite the havoc, passengers applauded airline staff for their professionalism.

Tony Cable, an engineering aircraft accident investigator, said pictures of the engine did not show “sooting”, evidence that might indicate an engine fire. “Another possibility is a foreign object, like a bird or a tool left in the air inlet,” he said.

But another industry source said investigators were likely to start by examining the role of the air inlet cowl on the Trent 700. The cowl is part of the engine casing and has previously been the subject of an “airworthiness directive” from the European Aviation Safety Agency.

The directive, issued in May last year, referred to “cracks” in the cowl discovered during routine checks, which Easa said might have been caused by “acoustic excitation and vibration”.

The document warned that in some cases it had detected, a part called the “piccolo tube” was also fractured.

“A broken piccolo tube, if not detected and corrected, in conjunction with forward air intake cowl bulkhead damage, could lead to in-flight detachment of the outer barrel, possibly resulting in damage to the engine or reduced control of the aeroplane,” Easa said.

It said the issue might affect several Airbus aircraft, although the A330-200 flown by China Eastern was not included among them.

In a separate incident, a Singapore Airlines A330-300 lost power in both Trent 700 engines in 2015 after encountering bad weather, with investigators yet to determine the cause.



A spokeswoman for Rolls-Royce, which manufactured the plane’s Trent 700 series engines, said in a statement this week: “We are aware of the incident and will be working closely with our customer and relevant partners to understand the cause of the issue.”

Bombardier could not be reached for comment.

The Australia Transport Safety Bureau said it was investigating the incident.

Zhang said a comprehensive investigation would involve aviation authorities from Australia and China.

“The engine for the aircraft is a big issue so we need to investigate with the governments, with the Rolls-Royce company and with our headquarters as well,” she said.

Several other flights out of Sydney were cancelled on Monday morning before thick fog that blanketed the city cleared after sunrise.



The flight was a code-share with Qantas. A spokesperson for the airline confirmed that a “small number” of passengers were on the Sydney to Shanghai service and said it was “working with China Eastern to reaccommodate impacted passengers onto other services”.