Screwdriver tip blamed for disrupting Jetstar’s Brisbane flight

A screwdriver head left in a Jetstar engine stayed there for at least 100 flights before an aborted takeoff at Brisbane Airport led to its discovery.

A Jetstar aircraft almost veered off Brisbane Airport’s runway during the takeoff role last year, due to an errant screwdriver head left in engine for more than 100 flights. Picture: Brendan Radke

Jetstar has promised not to leave tools in its aircraft engines again, after an errant screwdriver head caused a flight from Brisbane to be aborted when an engine began spouting flames.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s final report on the incident on October 23 last year, said the pilots pulled up the A320 when the plane veered to the right of the runway despite efforts to keep it on the centre line.

As vibrations and a “popping” sound grew louder, some of the passengers and an air traffic controller saw flames coming from the right engine, and the airport firefighting service was dispatched.

The aircraft was brought to a stop before taxiing back to the gate where all of the passengers and crew disembarked safely.

An engineering inspection found metallic debris in the tailpipe of the right engine before a complete disassembly discovered the culprit.

It was determined the screwdriver tip had been in the engine for over 100 flights, leaving dents and nicks in numerous rotor blades and vanes.

“At least two of these defects initiated fatigue cracks that resulted in a blade failing during the occurrence takeoff,” said the ATSB report.

“The liberated blade caused greater damage to the high pressure compressor and the engine surged.”

The report revealed the pilots were “startled by the unexpected onset of the issue, the volume of the popping noise and particularly the levels of vibration”.

“Additionally the pilot flying reported that despite the application of the full left rudder, the aircraft still diverged to the right of the runway centre line,” the report said.

“Both pilots commented that the noise and vibration was far more severe than what they had experienced during flight simulator training sessions when practising for similar types of events.”

ATSB director of transport safety Stuart Macleod said the incident highlighted the importance of tool control in the maintenance process.

“Small and seemingly insignificant tool components can, and have, caused significant incidents or accidents,” said Mr Macleod.

Jetstar head of safety Mike Chapman said the incident amounted to an “extremely rare situation” that was reported to the ATSB in accordance with regulations.

“We’ve issued a safety update to our engineering team on tooling checks and procedures to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” said Mr Chapman.