Summary of TERRIFYING flight | Engine STUCK on full power! | Cathay 780

00:00:00 - 00:15:00

The crew of Cathay Pacific flight 780 faced a series of challenges, including an engine that was stuck on full power. Despite the difficulties, they made sound decisions and safely landed the plane. Investigators determined that the engine failure was caused by a gel formed from Super Absorbent Polymer material that grew in the fuel due to the presence of water. The material clogged the fuel metering units, leading to the engine being stuck on full power. The lessons learned from this incident were used to improve the aircraft fueling procedures.

• 00:00:00 The captain of Cathay Pacific flight 780 has a small problem with one of his engines and informs the passengers that the engine is "stuck on full power." The crew is ordered to take fuel and continue the flight to Hong Kong. About an hour later, the engine's EPR readings become abnormally large and the crew is advised to avoid rapid thrust changes. Maintenance control is contacted and told of the problem. The pilots turn on the engine anti-ice system but it has no effect. The pilots then contact maintenance control and inform them that the readings have become large. The maintenance controller advises the pilots to divert to a nearby airport.
• 00:05:00 The maintenance control engineer on the other end of the line hypothesised that the EPR instability on engine number 1 may be a result of the flight computer trying to compensate for the instability on engine number 2. In other words, it may just be engine number two, that had a problem. The flight continued more or less as normal for the next two hours. As the plane was descending through 30,000 feet, the captain reported hearing a light "pop" sound, which was followed by the smell of ozone and a burning smell in the cockpit. This was quickly followed by two new ECAM messages - Engine 1 control system fault, and, critically, engine 2 stall. This second warning about an engine stall, was particularly troublesome. The flight crew followed standard procedure for an engine stall, and reduced the power on engine 2 to flight idle, the lowest engine setting that keeps the engine running. The ECAM then displayed new warnings for engine 1, which read "Engine 1 slow response", and "avoid rapid thrust changes". These were the same warnings that they had received fro engine 2 previously. To compensate for the reduced thrust from engine 2, the crew pushed the engine 1 thrust lever to the setting known in airbus aircraft as MCT, or maximum continuous thrust
• 00:10:00 The captain of a Cathay Pacific flight tests the controllability of the engines by moving the thrust levers one at a time. If he could get even one engine working, the plane would make it to Hong Kong. However, engine 1 continued to stay at a high setting, and the other engine was essentially dead. The crew had to attempt a landing faster than anything their aircraft was designed for and faster than they had ever trained for. They eventually made it to the ground, but the high-speed landing itself did not result in any injuries.
• 00:15:00 The crew of a Cathay Pacific aircraft were faced with a series of failures, including an engine that was stuck on full power. Despite the challenges, they made sound decisions and safely landed the plane. Investigators determined that the engine failure was caused by a gel formed from Super Absorbent Polymer material that grew in the fuel due to the presence of water. The material clogged the fuel metering units, leading to the engine being stuck on full power. The lessons learned from this incident were used to improve the aircraft fueling procedures.