'Cool' reaction that turned meltdown at 7,000ft into pilot triumph

The first sign something had gone very wrong came in the form of two loud bangs. A chunk of metal tore through the plane's wing, the aircraft yawed and a flood of emergency warning messages in the cockpit of the Qantas superjumbo sent the crew scrambling into action.

A preliminary report released yesterday by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau laid out the first official, detailed account of what happened after the mid-air disintegration of a Rolls-Royce engine on the Qantas A380 shortly after takeoff from Singapore on 4 November.

The report confirmed earlier suggestions that an oil leak was the likely cause of the blowout in what was the most significant safety issue for the world's newest and largest jetliner. It also showed the dire conditions the pilots faced as they manoeuvred the battered Airbus into land.

"The aircraft would not have arrived safely in Singapore without the focus and effective action of the flight crew," chief commissioner Martin Dolan said.

His bureau said a suspected manufacturing defect in an oil pipe deep within one of the four Trent 900 engines may have led to an oil leak in an extremely hot part of the engine. That could have sparked a fire that caused a disintegration of one of the engine's turbine discs.

Pieces of the disc shot through a wing, severing electronics and causing a cascade of problems for the five experienced pilots on board.

According to the report, the Qantas flight took off normally. At about 7,000ft the crew heard two loud bangs. The plane yawed then levelled off. In the cockpit, the pilots watched as warning messages filled a computer screen. There was an "overheat" warning in the No 2 engine, followed by a "fire" warning. The wing slats were inoperative and the auto-thrust and auto-land weren't working. There were warnings about brakes and landing gear, its anti-ice mechanism and centre of gravity.

The crew shut down the engine and discharged one of two fire extinguishers. But they got no confirmation it had worked. They moved to the second extinguisher. Still no confirmation.

More warnings followed: the satellite communications system had failed. And the plane's No?1 and No?4 engines had reverted to a degraded mode, restricting the flow of information.

Landing would be tricky: reverse thrust, which slows the plane on the runway, was only available from one of the four engines. Yet another message warned the pilots not to apply maximum braking until the nose wheel was on the ground.

The autopilot disconnected a couple times during the early approach, but a crew member managed to reconnect it. With just 1,000ft to go, it disconnected again, leaving the captain little choice but to fly the aircraft manually. The plane touched down and the captain applied maximum braking. With only one engine using reverse thrust, the plane began to slow.

It finally came to a stop less than 500ft from the end of the runway.