FRANKFURT—The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) plans to release an emergency airworthiness directive (AD) requiring Airbus A350 operators to perform one-time inspections of their aircraft.
The decision is aimed at identifying and removing from service “any potentially compromised high pressure fuel hoses,” EASA said in a statement Sept. 5.
EASA’s action was prompted by the Sept. 1 inflight engine fire on an A350-1000 operating as Cathay flight CX383 from Hong Kong to Zurich. The fire, discovered shortly after takeoff, prompted the crew to shut down one of the Rolls-Royce Trent XWB-97 engines, dump fuel and return to Hong Kong about 70 min. after takeoff.
“EASA is taking precautionary measures to prevent any further similar occurrence,” the agency said. “This decision is based on the preliminary information provided to EASA by the ongoing safety investigation led by AAIA (Air Accident Investigation Authority of Hong Kong), as well as from CAA Hong Kong, and from the aircraft and engine manufacturers.”
Details of the inspection and the compliance time are still being determined. The Emergency AD “may only be applicable to a portion of the A350 fleet,” EASA said. The agency did not specify initially whether only the -1000 is included or also the -900, which would affect a broader operator base.
Cathay has told Bloomberg Sept. 2 that it has found defects on 15 aircraft in both subfleets. Other A350s have meanwhile performed voluntary checks with no further findings confirmed publicly so far.
Cathay operates 30 A350-900s and 18 -1000s. Airbus has delivered 527 -900s and 86 -1000s so far.
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