Qantas, Airbus and Rolls Royce

This short article is my own reflection on the scandal that has Rolls-Royce as the main character. This sudden urge to comment on it came after finding out from here that Qantas begins legal action against the engine manufactuer.


I am going to start with a short synopsis of the event: Qantas had to land one of its Airbus aircrafts after one of the Rolls-Royce engines exploded on a flight. There were no victimes, apart from the reputations of some big companies. To be more precise, the aircraft in question is an A380 and the engine is a Trent 900, one of the best RR engines, if I may add.


First of all, I have no Engineering knowledge, but I am pretty sure that it is very ambitious to assume that it is possible to carry on a "double-decker" (the world's largest passenger airliner) "up to 800 people". I would personally think twice before booking a flight on such an aircraft. With that being said, I am going to restate that I have no Engineering knowledge and that this might be absolutely feasible and safe.


Secondly, the question here is: who is there to blame? Obvious answer: Rolls-Royce. Now, I admit that I might be a little bit biased given my experience with this company, but nevertheless I think they are not the only guilty ones. From my perspective, this is really a chain operation: firstly, Rolls-Royce tests the engines. I know for a fact that the company loses a lot of money by destroying completely the engines that don't meet safety requierements. Afterwards, it comes down to the aircraft to do its own checks and finally to the airline. Or at least, this is how it should be. Then, I understand that Rolls-Royce did not do its job properly in checking the engines, but neither did Airbus nor Qantas. This is not to say that the engine manufacturer is not the main one to blame, it's just that I believe that tougher checks should be made by the other parts of the chain (in this case Airbus and Qantas).


Here you can see a small engine testing example.


Thirdly, my main doubt now is in what way a settlement was not reached. Rolls-Royce is the main responsible and I as far as I read, they took responsibility for what happened. I am really curious to see how this will evolve, there will be later edits in accordance to the press.


Finally, I know that this will affect the image of Rolls-Royce, but I have to plant a question out there: would you prefer your aircraft to be Airbus or Comac? What I can say is that from now on I am checking the engine and the aircraft that I am flying with.