A Qantas plane carried passengers on dozens of international flights with a 4ft tool stuck in one of its engines, investigators have revealed.
There seemed nothing unusual with the Airbus A380, as it operated 34 flights between December 2023 and January 2024. Services included a flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne.
But on Dec. 6, the engine had a scheduled borescope inspection and technicians accidentally left a 4-foot-long nylon tool in the left inlet of the outboard motor.
Just 24 days later, after logging nearly 300 flight hours, a maintenance crew in Los Angeles found the tool lodged in the engine.
The tool is used to rotate the engine’s intermediate pressure compressor. They had left it in the engine’s low-pressure compressor box.
There was no damage to the engine itself, but the tool had been deformed by a “high-energy airflow”, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said.
ATSB chief commissioner Angus Mitchell said staff noticed the tool was missing in December but did not bother to find it.
“Maintenance engineers did not begin the lost tool procedure once the tool was identified as missing, and the certifying engineer released the aircraft for service with the tool missing.”
The tool was not discovered until the Airbus A380 had logged almost 300 flight hours.
Mitchell said foreign objects and debris can pose a “significant threat” to the safe operation of aircraft.
There are procedures to ensure that foreign objects are not left on planes, but they were not followed in this case.
After the bug was discovered, Qantas informed its engineers about the importance of taking all of its tools into account.
The staff member responsible was also investigated internally. The result was an “internal security directive” for staff.
In 2023, Qantas was named the world’s safest airline, a reputation Flying Kangaroo has been keen to preserve.
The tool was accidentally left in the engine after a routine inspection.