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Bombardier CSeries flight test aircraft has ‘engine-related incident’

Discussion in 'Jet Aviation Discussion' started by mfranjic, May 30, 2014.

  1. mfranjic

    mfranjic Member

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    Bombardier has confirmed that late yesterday CSeries flight test aircraft FTV1 (maker's lead flight test aircraft) experienced “an engine-related incident during stationary ground maintenance testing.” The CSeries is powered by Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofan engines. The incident occurred on May 29, at Bombardier’s facility in Mirabel, Quebec.

    There were no injuries during the incident, said two people familiar with the event, and the extent of the damage to the engine and the aircraft wasn't immediately clear. It is confirmed with sources that the failure of the PW1500G was "uncontained" spewing debris.

    The company said it was investigating with the support of Pratt & Whitney, and wouldn't resume flight tests until the probe was completed. The company's shares were recently down 4% at 3,63 Canadian dollars, having been trading at $3,77 before The Wall Street Journal revealed Thursday's incident.

    A spokesman for Canada's Transportation Safety Board said the agency is aware of the incident involving the engine failure, and is gathering information. Safety is the priority, and the CSeries aircraft flight test program will resume once the investigation is completed.

    It is better that this happened now, on the ground, in the empty airplane than in the air, in an airplane full of passengers. There is no doubt the entire program will be additionally slowed down. On the other hand, Pratt & Whitney, for sure, does not need that what was happening with PW2000 (Boeing 757), PW6000 (Airbus A318) and PW4098 (Boeing 777)...

    Mario

    P.S. The other incident, which occurred on April 29, during the test flight, involved a test version of the PW1100G engine (in final development for the Airbus A320neo), on one of the company’s two Boeing 747SP flying testbeds. Fire was reported during the flight...

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  2. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    You got to it before me!
  3. mfranjic

    mfranjic Member

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    CSeries´ flights suspended

    Bombardier has suspended all CSeries´ flight tests after a Pratt & Whitney PW1500G, on the FTV1 prototype, suffered an unspecified failure during ground runs.

    According to unconfirmed reports, the failure on FTV-1 caused debris to eject from an engine, while other reports also indicate the presence of smoke. It is confirmed that an engine-related incident occurred during stationary ground maintenance testing involving the CSeries FTV1, but the airframe, also, suffered damage. This supports posibility of the event was a high-energy failure such as an uncontained turbine failure.

    P&W declines to comment directly on either the extent or type of damage suffered by the engine or whether the event might have implications for the broader development of the PW1000G geared turbofan family (GTF engines are also slated to power the Airbus A320neo, Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. MRJ, Embraer E-Jet E2 and Irkut MC-21). The engine maker says it is premature to speculate, as they continue to work with Bombardier to investigate the incident. Transport Canada certified the CSeries engine last February. Pratt & Whitney has an extensive technology risk reduction program and completed more than 9.000 hours of testing across the PurePower engine family, including more than 1.300 hours of flight.

    Pratt says it is also premature to speculate about whether the CSeries event is related to the April 29 incident in Mirabel in which an unidentified PW1000G engine on one of the company’s Boeing 747SP (there are two B-747SP testbeds) flying testbed aircraft suffered “a minor anomaly”.
    Pratt said that examination of that engine revealed that there was no apparent damage and they were able to run it again the next day. Because of policy, and for proprietary reasons, they do not reveal which engine was being tested, but the engine is thought to have been one of the PW1100G (versions with 81 in and 73 in fan hang under the the left wing of 747SP testbed) and very probably the one which is under development for the Airbus A320neo.

    Commenting on the April event, Bob Saia, vice president, Pratt & Whitney Commercial Development Programs said they did a lot of unique testing on development engines and one of their margin tests had an anomaly. Saia adds the test was one of several deliberately run toward the end of the test program to verify design and performance margins beyond normal operating parameters. This particular engine had gone through a long series of tests and the condition of the engine was beyond the end of a certain level of service wear. Pratt Commercial Engines President David Brantner adds that the engine showed no damage during a subsequent borescope inspection and was started without incident the following day.

    Even if the latest incident is also related to a one-off failure, the engine event adds unwelcome pressure to the already delayed CSeries flight-test effort. After a slow start, the program was in the process of building momentum with the recent introduction of the fourth test airframe, FTV-4, earlier this month. Since the first flight of initial CSeries aircraft, FTV-1, in September 2013, the fleet has amassed more than 100 flights and more than 300 flight-test hours. But with some 2.400 hours planned, and certification targeted for the second half of 2015, Bombardier is looking to accelerate the test campaign.

    FTV-1, which recently completed stall testing, has been flown to the edges of the CSeries flight envelope, reaching Mach 0,82 and an altitude of 41.000 ft. FTV- 2 recently completed extreme temperature testing at the McKinley Climatic Facility in Florida, while FTV-3 remains in Wichita for avionics and electrical testing. FTV-4, which entered the test effort on May 18, is designated as a performance aircraft, while follow-on FTV-5, -6 and -7 are in assembly.

    It remains to be seen whether this happened because of material quality that was used for making certain part, whether there has been a failure in the process of making this part or there is a wider and more complex problem in the construction and design of particular segment or circuit of the engine…

    Generally, there are two extreme scenarios, with everything in between possible. In the worst case there is a basic design flaw and the engine must be returned back to the drawing board (which could easily destroy the program...and what about all other programs!?).
    In the most favorable scenario there might be a minor manufacturing flaw that can easily be fixed (remember what happened to the RR´s Trent 972B-84 engine on the QF´s A380-842, on the flight QF32, because of an oil leak on a misaligned counter bore within a stub oil pipe.....)

    Mario

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  4. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Bombardier has narrowed its investigation of an engine failure on its new CSeries airliner to a few possible causes and said the test plane could be back in the air quickly if the cause turns out to be what the company suspects. Guy Hachey, president of Bombardier Aerospace, declined on Monday to describe last week's incident in detail, but said the company hopes to understand more later this week.

    "We are narrowing it down to a few possible causes and we should hopefully, as the week evolves, get to a most likely, if not a root, cause," he told Reuters. "At that point we will be able to talk more about what is the way forward," Hachey said. News of a problem with the plane's newly developed Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF) engine had sparked fears of a delay in the already-overdue aircraft. But analysts predicted the failure, during stationary maintenance testing last Thursday, likely would have only limited long-term effects on Pratt, Bombardier or airlines who have ordered the CSeries.

    "SOME DAMAGE" TO PLANE

    A senior industry source said the problem may have been caused by an oil shortage or "oil starvation" inside the engine, but that could not be confirmed. Hachey declined to discuss specifics, or to say whether the incident could be categorised as an "uncontained engine failure" - usually a violent engine explosion that can produce debris. "I am not going to get into that because there is a lot of speculation. I can tell you there is some damage to the aircraft and the damage is manageable and we are going to be able to fix the aircraft," he said, adding, "I have read that we are going to scrap the aircraft and that is not the case."

    If the root cause turns out to be something that the company suspects, "we will find ways to get back in the air quickly," Hachey said. "If it is something that we didn't expect, then we will have to see what it is." He said there was no reason to adjust the company's target of delivering the first CSeries aircraft to Sweden's Malmo Aviation via a leasing company in the second half of 2015. "With what I know today... we still feel comfortable we can achieve the target for the second half of 2015." Asked if the aircraft could return to flight testing quickly, he said, "that is what we hope."

    REDESIGN QUESTION

    For Pratt, the GTF represents somewhat of a comeback for the engine maker's commercial airliner business, and offers better fuel efficiency than prior models. Aside from Bombardier, Pratt is selling versions of the GTF for the Airbus A320neo, as well as to Embraer, Mitsubishi and Russia's Irkut. But those concerns appeared somewhat mollified on Monday, though speculation continued, especially at the IATA meeting of aviation leaders in Doha. "Given the engine's extensive tests to date, we doubt that it resulted from a fundamental flaw that will require a costly major redesign," said Cowen analyst Cai von Rumohr in a client note.

    He speculated that the incident was more likely due to faulty parts, an operational issue, or some other factor that would not jeopardise the GTF programme. Bombardier has shipped the damaged engine to Pratt & Whitney's home base in Connecticut for further investigation. Pratt said in a statement that the cause of the failure has not yet been determined, and declined to comment further. Canada's Transportation Safety Board has asked to take part in the investigation of the incident involving the GTF engine.

    NO AIRBUS LINK

    Hachey said there was no link between last Thursday's incident and an earlier one involving an engine of the same family being developed as an option for powering the A320neo. Airbus so far has sold more than 800 A320neos for which airlines have opted to have Pratt's GTF engine. In Doha on Monday, CSeries customer Swiss International Air Lines also said it did not expect the engine incident to cause any major delays to deliveries of the 30 aircraft which it has ordered. Hachey could not say whether Bombardier would bring the jet to July's Farnborough Airshow, the industry's biggest showcase of the year and often a platform for sales. Testing the aircraft has been a priority and "will be even more so now," he said. Bombardier has carried out just under 330 test hours on over 100 flights and Hachey said it was on track to reach 300 orders for the CSeries from 20 customers by the time the plane enters service. Bombardier says so far it has 203 firm orders from 18 customers and plans eventually to produce 120 of the aircraft a year.

    (Reuters)
  5. Jet News

    Jet News JF News Editor Staff Member

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    Lufthansa said it met Bombardier on Monday and assured the Canadian plane maker it still believes in the USD$4.4 billion CSeries despite an engine failure last week. A problem with the plane's newly developed Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan (GTF) engine during stationary maintenance testing last Thursday has sparked concerns about further delays in the already-overdue CSeries development. "We still very much believe in this aircraft," spokesman Nils Haupt said in an email. "Lufthansa is fully confident that Bombardier will be able to solve the issue... but we hope that no further delays will occur." Lufthansa signed a letter of interest in 2008 for 30 planes, with options for 30 more, and firmed the order in March 2009. The planes are for its Swiss airline subsidiary.

    Montreal-based Bombardier said on Tuesday that there were no developments with the investigation into what went wrong with the engine. The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, which sent an investigator to Bombardier's flight testing facility outside Montreal, said on Tuesday it had nothing new to report. UBS analysts were told in meetings with Pratt & Whitney parent United Technologies that the incident was relatively minor. United Technologies does not see the incident as related to the the gearbox, analyst David Strauss wrote in a research note, adding that the company "expects to know root cause by the end of this week."

    (Reuters)
  6. mfranjic

    mfranjic Member

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    PW1500G geared-turbofan engine failure

    According to Greg Hayes, CFO of parent company United Technologies Corp., Pratt & Whitney has made a preliminary determination of the root cause of the PW1500G geared-turbofan engine failure during ground tests on a CSeries and is working with Bombardier on a plan to resume testing in the next few weeks hoping there will not be significant impact on the testing schedule.

    As is alredy known, the uncontained failure occurred May 29, at Mirabel, near Montreal, during stationary ground maintenance testing of the first flight-test CSeries, aircraft FTV1. The incident damaged both the engine and the aircraft.

    All flights were stopped, but ground testing were continued on aircraft FTV-2, FTV-3 and FTV-4. The engine was soon shipped to Pratt’s Connecticut plant for tear-down and inspection.

    Any suspected cause was not detailed, but happening does not relate to anything to do with the fan drive gearbox!! As it seems now, it is something much simpler than that. Some unconfirmed reports have tied the incident to the engine’s oil system because the oil pump on this engine was changed prior the accident.

    There is a strong belief at P&W, they do understand of what has occurred and if they are really on the right track in their thinking, it seems defect can be rectified quickly.

    Bombardier, meanwhile, has said the aircraft is quite repairable. FTV1 is the envelope-expansion, handling-qualities and engine test aircraft, but FTV2 is fully instrumented as a backup.

    The manufacturer said it still plans to begin deliveries of the initial 110-seat CS100 variant in the second half of 2015, already a slip of more than 18 months from the original schedule.

    Hopefully, final results of investigation will show that the problem was not caused by any (at least not big) design lapse, but rather of poor quality built-in part or failure during assembly after changing the oil pump. On the other hand it is quite possible that a mechanical problem arose due to improper operation of the electrical system of control, regulation and measurement on the engine.

    In the shadow of the aforementioned events, Pratt & Whitney has delivered the first PW1200G geared turbofan engine to Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp., for installation on its MRJ.

    The Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) is a regional passenger jet aircraft seating 70–90 passengers.

    Seven test aircraft will make up the MRJ program. The MRJ’s first flight is targeted for the second quarter of 2015. First delivery is slated for the second quarter of 2017.

    The MRJ GTF engine delivery comes shortly after P&W delivered the first two PW1100G-JM engines for Airbus A320neo.

    Mario

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  7. mfranjic

    mfranjic Member

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    LPT failed on PW1500G

    Investment bank UBS reports, citing Bombardier, that the low pressure turbine failed in the Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbo Fan engine PW1500G, on Bombardier’s CSeries prototype FTV-1.

    BBD confirmed that recent PW1500G engine´s failure was in the LPT and that the airframe (FTV1) was damaged in the incident, but downplayed the impact to the program schedule. While root cause analysis is ongoing, BBD emphasized that the failure has nothing to do with the gearbox, and also suggested that a manufacturing defect, rather than a design flaw, may have been the cause. The subject engine was known to have problems with the oil pump, and BBD had considered sending it back to Pratt prior to incident. Instead, engine was repaired at BBD and the failure occurred during subsequent ground-testing. Root cause could be expected by the end of week.

    Some rumors coming out of P&W’s Connecticut plant, where the damaged engine has been sent for tear down, say it was an oil problem in the LPT, that drives both, LPC and geared fan.

    FTV 1 was equipped with prototype engines, and that the production engines are first installed on FTV 4, the airplane that is designated to validate engine performance.

    Mario

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  8. JetForums

    JetForums Publisher/Admin

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    Mario,

    I stripped the posts above from the Bombardier News thread because the incident should have a dedicated thread. I've also placed this in the General Discussion forum for awhile.

    Thanks!

    Carl
  9. mfranjic

    mfranjic Member

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    Carl,

    if You concluded that the incident with the CSeries´PW1500G engine deserves separate tread, my humble opinion is that this tread should be there, where I marked in the pictures...

    I do really hope we shall soon send this tread to history and continue to write and read about CSeries plane there, where we already have, until few days ago..

    From my place, as much as I will be able to, I'll try to bring some quality and timely information here, related to further developments of PW´s engines and the CSeries aircraft itself.

    Besides, I hope that my previous posts did not create any confusion and problems to the forum.

    Mario

    P.S.When I realized, this morning, that all posts related to Bombardier´s CSeries plane accident are missing, there where I left them, my first thought was that Bombardier and P&W, together, hijacked this forum and that it is just the beginning of all our troubles.

    I asked myself what´s the next: will they find us and put into a damaged CSeries aircraft that will, remotely controlled, takeoff, without removed engine. Will they give us a chance to survive and let us learn our lessons or the other engine is made by the same standard as the first one?!... Will I be the first passeneger seating in the CSeries´first class seat, watching my last sunset, somewhere in the distance and the wing with no engine on it, regretting that I ever said anything against the president of my country, against the director of my power-heating plant, regretting that I was stealing candies from my nephews and proteins in nearby shop...imprecating the moment I joined JetForums...

    You know what?! I'm outa here!!...I just don´t need all this.

    It was a privilege and honor to me to spend a part of my life with all of You.

    Farewell...

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  10. JetForums

    JetForums Publisher/Admin

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    Gosh Mario, it wasn't my intent to offend you. I was placing these posts into their own designated thread and moving them to the General Discussion (for the time being), so that more viewers would see your contributions, as opposed to a news thread that had become SO long that many people may not have the time to read all the posts in that original thread.

    Your contributions were appreciated. We are sorry to see you go. Wishing you a turbulence-free life. :)
  11. Kevin

    Kevin JF Moderator

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    Ground testing resumed today: http://cseries.com/cseries-commences-engine-runs-in-mirabel-quebec/