In a press release on Thursday 5 September, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) announced it will request the inspection of at least some of the Airbus A350s in operation after an engine fire on a Cathay Pacific aircraft.
While Cathay Pacific, the Hong Kong-based airline, reported a “fault” on a Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engine during a flight to Zurich on Monday, EASA has specified that it was an in-flight engine fire shortly after take-off, which was apparently linked to faulty “high pressure fuel hoses”.
During this incident involving an A350-1000, the largest of Airbus’ flagship long-haul aircraft, “the fire was promptly detected and extinguished and the aircraft returned safely to Hong Kong”, EASA emphasised. The Agency has given assurances that it is taking precautionary measures to prevent any further similar occurrence, based on preliminary information from the relevant Hong Kong authorities and the aircraft and engine manufacturers.
EASA “will require a one-time fleet inspection, which may be applicable only to a portion of the A350 fleet, to identify and remove from service any potentially compromised high pressure fuel hoses”. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)