From an occasional correspondent who knows about this sort of thing:
RR engines do not like oil in the wrong places because it may stop the air-cooled turbine blades being cooled
All RR “B” checks are supposed to include a look for oil in the wrong places
Qantas seem less good at finding it than Singapore Airlines or Lufthansa
There is a problem with wear on some A380 engine components which is why the need for checks was highlighted in August
Qantas are more likely to have a problem because they operate their A380’s with higher thrust ratings than SQ or LH
The Trent 900 is the first RR engine to introduce contra-rotation, where one of its three shafts runs in the opposite direction to the other two
That massively increases the entertainment value of, say, bits of one broken turbine meeting a turbine rotating in the opposite direction
Since Qantas engineers have now looked at all their T900 engines jointly with RR engineers they have found two more with oil where oil shouldn’t be
Which begs the question why they didn’t find it before…
His words, not mine. Although, much as I respect Ben Sandilands, this is the most convincing analysis I’ve read. Apart from the misuse of “begs the question”, which is unforgiveable.
Note that Qantas outsources their maintenance on the Trent 900 to Rolls-Royce.
http://ccairways.com/blog/qantas-airbus-rolls-roy…
Not the B-checks. They're done in-house. Major stuff is done by RR. But cheers for the post, interesting background.
QF also subcontracts maintenance work to Lufthansa Technik.
They had a very suspicious incident just after the outsourcing was announced in which an oxygen bottle got connected up the wrong way and exploded in flight, which came just after another oxygen bottle turned out to be full of nitrogen. Oxygen Guy: don't fuck with him.
QF's C-checks are done by LH, true. Which is also interesting – AIUI, the plane in question is the first RR A380 ever to have undergone a C-check at LH's hands (Singapore have done many, of course).
If I'm ever in a depressurisation disaster situation, I'd like my supply to be NOX, ideally with an empty seat / co-conspirator next to me with a supply of O2.