A333, en-route, southeast of Alice Springs Australia, 2016

A333, en-route, southeast of Alice Springs Australia, 2016

Summary

On 16 August 2016, an Airbus A330-300 right engine failed just over two hours into a flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur. It was eventually shut down after two compressor stalls and increased vibration had followed ‘exploratory’ selection of increased thrust. A ‘PAN’ declaration was followed by diversion to Melbourne, during which two relight attempts were made, in preference to other nearer alternates without further event. The Investigation found that delayed shutdown and the relight attempts were contrary to applicable procedures and the failure to divert to the nearest suitable airport had extended the time in an elevated risk environment.

Description

On 16 August 2016, a Rolls Royce Trent 700-powered Airbus A330-300 (9M-XXD) being operated by AirAsia X on a scheduled international passenger flight from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur as XAX221 was in the cruise at night at FL 380 when the right engine failed. In response, the engine thrust lever was first set to idle and then advanced but returned to idle when a compressor stall and vibration followed. A ‘PAN’ was declared advising an intention to divert to Melbourne rather than to nearer alternatives and immediately followed by a second right engine thrust lever advance with similar results to the first after which the engine was shutdown. Two unsuccessful engine relight attempts were subsequently made and the flight was completed without further event.

Investigation

An Investigation was carried out by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). Data were retrieved from the FDR but the CVR was discounted as a relevant source due to the post-failure diversion flight time having been in excess of 2 hours. However, useful data were recovered from the FADECs and ATC and crew interviews were conducted.

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