Twinjet bound for Zurich evacuated following incident at New Delhi in April.
Indian investigators have disclosed that a Swiss Airbus A330-300 aborted its take-off roll at 106kt after its left-hand engine failed during departure from New Delhi.
The aircraft, bound for Zurich on 26 April, had been taking off from runway 28.
No abnormality was found during pre-flight inspection, says the Indian aircraft accident investigation bureau.
The aircraft, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engines, commenced its take-off roll from the J6 intersection.
But according to surface-movement system data, the aircraft aborted its roll at about 106kt, some 85s after its crew was given take-off clearance.
The jet stopped between taxiways G2 and G1 and firefighting personnel dealt with fire and smoke on the main landing-gear, before passengers were evacuated using seven of the eight slides.
Four of the 232 passengers were injured during the evacuation. The aircraft was also carrying 13 crew members.
The post-flight report listed an initial left-hand engine stall fault, followed by faults relating to rudder trim and air packs, and left-hand engine failure.
According to the crew report, the engine failure occurred at about 110kt, “with a large bang and spitting a large flame forward, which was visible from the cockpit”.
The crew decided to abort the take-off after the jet veered to the left.
Preliminary information from the inquiry states that the left engine’s last overhaul had taken place nearly 10 years earlier, and the powerplant had operated for almost 40,000h before the failure.
No fan-blade damage was observed during an initial inspection. Borescope inspection found damage to the high-pressure, intermediate-pressure and low-pressure turbine blades, as well as nozzle guide vanes.
Damage was also discovered to high-pressure compressor blades and stator vanes.
“There was no evidence of any uncontained failure,” the inquiry says.
Although damage was “confined to the core” of the engine, it adds, the inability to rotate spools prevented identification of the cause of the failure during the borescope work.
No conclusions have been reached and investigators have not yet released any safety recommendations.
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