Qantas 'hero' pilot retains faith in A380
Daily Telegraph
February 13, 2011
THE pilot of last November's Airbus flight from Singapore, in which the engine exploded, has declared the Qantas A380 aircraft "absolutely" safe.
Richard de Crespigny managed to land the aircraft after the engine exploded mid-air, resulting in more than 60 separate system failures.
"This is the biggest testament to Airbus. Some people might think the aircraft collapsed under the onslaught but no aircraft is ever designed to take the beating that this aircraft got," Mr de Crespigny told the Nine Network's 60 Minutes tonight.
"The wing was cluster bombed, the aircraft had phenomenal damage to all systems - and it didn't just recover, it performed brilliantly. It is indestructible."
Just minutes into the QF32 flight from Singapore on November 4 of last year there was a small oil leak in the intermediate pressure turbine of engine number two.
The oil ignited causing a turbine disk to explode at high speed.
Two pieces smashed through the wing severing the plane's controls while a third did the same underneath the plane.
"Electrically the left hand side of the aircraft was dead. We'd lost 50 per cent of the hydraulics system. The brakes underneath the wings were reduced to 30 per cent braking conditions," he said.
The pilot has been praised for his cool head as he managed to land the plane under these conditions.
"I think it was my finest moment, I think I should give up aviation now and leave on a high because I think it was a good landing under tough conditions," he said.
Mr de Crespigny has been flying with Qantas for 25 years and before that was a pilot with the Airforce.
"I'm so confident that there is nobody in this world who knows that aircraft better than Rich," his wife Coral de Crespigny said.
Ms de Crespigny didn't know about the incident until after her husband was safely on the ground and she got a call from his boss at Qantas.
"He said I need to tell you that Richard's safe and he's on the ground and I said why are you telling me this.
"He said there's been an incident so I immediately turned on the news and I saw that wasn't...well I assumed there had been a crash.
"I'm just so glad he didn't stuff up that landing," she said.
Mr de Crespigny doesn't like being deemed a hero as he said he was just doing his job and was supported by an extraordinary crew with lots of experience.
"I would ultimately be responsible if people died and I am so proud of everyone and all the teams that helped out. I was proud to be in command of that aircraft," he said.
The pilot said that he didn't think an airbus aircraft had ever been challenged as much as this one.
"I think a Rolls Royce engine has never failed so spectacularly... there was so much collateral damage....it was a flight that you could never train for.
"You might practice one or two emergencies, not 60," he said.
Qantas is now completely confident Rolls Royce has fixed the engine fault on the jet.
QANTAS It ain’t perfect,and does not pretend to be, but when the shit hits the fan I know what Airline I would want to be flying on, God bless this Captain and his crew of no nonsense no BS Aussies, thinking clearly, with nothing on their minds other than saving the lives of their passengers and landing safely. Mission accomplished.
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