A Qantas Airbus A380 operated 34 flights with a nylon tool stuck in one of its engines, Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigators said. The jet – registered as VH-OQL – was not damaged.
The over 4-foot-long tool was found on Jan. 1, 2024, stuck in the outboard left engine’s inlet. Nearly a month prior, on Dec. 6, 2023, the engine underwent a scheduled borescope inspection, which is when the tool was left behind, investigators stated.
On Dec. 8, the A380 was released from maintenance and placed into revenue service on a flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne.
Roughly 24 days later, the superjumbo aircraft returned to Los Angeles for more scheduled maintenance. Maintenance staff found the missing tool in the engine’s low‑pressure compressor.
The ATSB said the aircraft had operated 294 flight hours with the tool lodged in the engine. While no damage was reported to the engine itself, the tool was “deformed by high energy airflow.”
“The ATSB investigation found that maintenance engineers did not notice the tool had been left in the engine’s low-pressure compressor case when conducting checks for foreign objects at the completion of the borescope inspection task,” ATSB Chief Commissioner Angus Mitchell said in a news release.
Mitchell adds that maintenance staff knew the tool was missing but dispatched the aircraft anyway.
According to the ATSB, Qantas has since reminded staff of the “importance of ensuring all tooling is returned and actioned by tool store personnel.”
