China Airlines AE845 A330-300 `flamedout' nearing HKG

[SN30952]

China Airlines AE845 A330-300 `flamedout' preparing to land in Hong Kong last month.
A "flameout" occurs when the flame in an aircraft's engine combustion chamber is extinguished. Factors leading to this include a low fuel level, the intrusion of a foreign substance, inclement weather and mechanical failures.

The aircraft landed safely at Hong Kong International Airport.
AE845 was used by Mandarin Airlines on May 19 on a flight from Kaohsiung to Hong Kong.
The "flameout" occurred as the aircraft equipped with General Electric (GE) engines, had descended to an altitude of 6,700m while approaching Hong Kong.

The automatic flight system reactivated the engines in less than one minute.
GE has offered to upgrade the Electric Control Units installed on the aircraft: both China Airlines and EVA Air had completed the upgrades.

[regi]

would the passengers have noticed anything?

[SN30952]

would the passengers have noticed anything?

Not all Koreans are deaf, regi! As it might look, when you hear them talking.
The would be obviously a deceleration after 30'?
The people on board the BA that hit the volcanic dust some years ago noticed the 4 engines flameout, for sure.

(Very long time ago) I remember coming back from Nice in a Caravelle on a ferry flight. As we were not a commercial flight, there was no need to hold a schedule: the mission was bring back the OO-SR?. So our captain decided to demonstrate that a CRV, that was the code for the Carvelles, could glide in the air.
I never had a quieter flight, should I say glide, in my live, although the 2 tail engine were not switched off, but just idle.

Conclusion, the passengers will have noticed. On the other hand, depending on the weather conditions over the Chinese Sea, a bumpy ride, without engine noise..... Maybe not all would have noticed. And Koreans are quite noisy people themselves, I experienced.

[SN30952]

Did you miss Speebird 009 on NatGeo?
All Engines Failed! was on National Geographic Channel
BA 009. 6/24/82
City of Edinburgh, a 747-200 registered G-BDXH
The story of BA flight 009

The crew and passengers formed the Galunggung Gliding Club as a means to keep in contact.

[Corto]

would the passengers have noticed anything?

Not all Koreans are deaf, regi! As it might look, when you hear them talking.


Conclusion, the passengers will have noticed. On the other hand, depending on the weather conditions over the Chinese Sea, a bumpy ride, without engine noise..... Maybe not all would have noticed. And Koreans are quite noisy people themselves, I experienced.

Although I won't contest the fact that Koreans are not deaf and that they are noisy themselves, I doubt the possibility of them noticing anything, for the most probable reason that Koreans wanting to fly to Hong-Kong would do so preferably on a Korean Air flight and from Seoul (Incheon, Busan, Jeju etc....) rather than from Kaoshiung, where the majority of dwellers (hence passengers) are Taiwanese.
Freudian slip perhaps???

[TUB001]

Erm... engines switching off and on again are quite audible unless you are totally naive and believe it is normal, I guess!

Factors leading to this include a low fuel level, the intrusion of a foreign substance, inclement weather and mechanical failures.

In this list you forgot the one that is probably the cause in this case: software issues.

[SN30952]

Although I won't contest the fact that Koreans are not deaf and that they are noisy themselves, I doubt the possibility of them noticing anything, for the most probable reason that Koreans wanting to fly to Hong-Kong would do so preferably on a Korean Air flight and from Seoul (Incheon, Busan, Jeju etc....) rather than from Kaoshiung, where the majority of dwellers (hence passengers) are Taiwanese.
Freudian slip perhaps???

The information I got, was that the passengers came from a third party charter.... originating in Korea.
I am relying on information passed on to me, Corto. Sorry for the elliptical use of this info.
Mandarin established direct flights Kaohsiung - Hong Kong only from August 5, 2002.
I'm also told Mandarin is flying direct flights Taichung - Seoul, Korea.

Sorry if we cannot produce the PNL of that flight.
As you might have heard, Korean TO's have the not so nice reputation in SE Asia of not always fully paying their charters, and looking for all kinds of ways to circumvent contracts. So it would not surprise they were sending a party of clients via KHH on a bulk.

BTW, even Taiwanese are also quite noisy...
And Freud was an Austrian, I suppose...
Noticed that Asiana Airlines OZ723 is also operating HKG with A330-300, and Mister Jung cannot dispute that.

[SN30952]

... the cause in this case: software issues.

Airbus is more than once accused in accident and incident matters of software failure. Could you elaborate on that, TUB001?
Understand well, these were accusations.
Anyway, we read than that Airbus made consequently adjustments to the system(s).

[Bracebrace]

Erm... engines switching off and on again are quite audible unless you are totally naive and believe it is normal, I guess!

Descent, passing ie FL200... you'd be with an IAS of +300kts, and idle power. You would hear an engine flameout?

Wind is the noise source in these conditions. Myself, I cannot tell if engines are alive or not in these conditions, (apart from the slight "rumble" the CFM56's on a 737 create when approaching idle power, but that's aircraft specific). Haven't experienced a real engine shutdown, but would be interesting.

From what I've heard, flameouts on GE equipped A330's have happened multiple times.

[TUB001]

I said *probably* the cause of the incident. Maybe quote better next time. I am no software expert but the chance to have a double engine failure at the same time for mechanical reasons and so on is about 0.000! I doubt such a case would happen at all with no software regulating the engines!

Descent, passing ie FL200... you'd be with an IAS of +300kts, and idle power. You would hear an engine flameout?

You would feel it at least, and starting an engine is indeed not soundless (even at "more than 300kias" on idle)

[Devon Rex]

Did you miss Speebird 009 on NatGeo?
All Engines Failed! was on National Geographic Channel
BA 009. 6/24/82
City of Edinburgh, a 747-200 registered G-BDXH
The story of BA flight 009

The crew and passengers formed the Galunggung Gliding Club as a means to keep in contact.

Do airports/airlines actually use VAAC (Volcanic Ash Advisory Centers) service?

http://www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/

[speedbird1]

Didn't a Qatar Airways 330 suffer a engine flame out last year too. I remember heavy icing conditions being mentioned.

Emirates