Engine crack curtails Air NZ jumbo flight

By SCOTT MacLEOD

Air New Zealand was forced to switch 180 people to other flights after finding a crack in one of a jumbo jet's four engines.

The flight from Narita, Japan, landed in Christchurch at 9 am on Wednesday and was meant to carry on to Auckland.

But inspectors making routine checks found what the airline called a pencil-line crack in the tailcone of No 2 engine, which is the one closest to the fuselage on the left, looking from the rear of the aircraft.

Airline spokesman Cameron Hill said 180 passengers were switched to other domestic flights and the crew to a Qantas flight, causing delays.

The crack was not dangerous but the airline decided to ground the Boeing 747-400 anyway, he said.

Engineers took a tailcone from another aircraft and replaced the faulty one within three hours.

Tailcones were inspected at least once a day, said Mr Hill. Heat, air pressure or vibration could have caused the crack.

Australian safety inspectors grounded 10 Boeing 767s belonging to Air NZ subsidiary Ansett Australia on April 12 after cracks were found in engine mountings on three aircraft and another flew eight times with its safety ramps out of action.

But Mr Hill said Wednesday's tailcone crack was not a safety issue.

Civil Aviation Authority spokesman Martyn Gosling said the incident would have to be reported, but was "not a biggie."