Created Friday, May 13th 2022 18:39Z, last updated Monday, Dec 19th 2022 07:13Z
A Virgin Australia Boeing 737-800, registration VH-YFZ performing flight
VA-504 from Coolangatta,QL to Sydney,NS (Australia), departed Coolangatta's runway 14, climbed to FL380 and landed on Sydney's runway 34R about 75 minutes later.
The Australien ATSB reported during initial climb as well as during the approach the crew experienced uncommanded roll to the right. Cabin crew reported abnormal noise during the climb. The ATSB wrote: "The engineering inspection revealed the outboard left flap was skewed to the right. The inspection also found damage to the hardware associated with the flap’s operation, including the inboard program roller and support which had fractured and departed the aircraft."
The occurrence was rated a serious incident, a short investigation (Estimated to conclude in 3rd Quarter 2022) was opened.
On Dec 19th 2022 the ATSB released their final report concluding the probable cause of the incident were:
- Failure of the inboard programming roller cartridge was due to undetected fatigue cracking that occurred in an area that was not included in the detailed flap actuation system inspection. (Safety Issue)
- The failed roller cartridge affected aft flap performance when flaps were deployed, resulting in a tendency for the aircraft to roll to the right.
The ATSB summarized the sequence of events:
On the morning of 27 April 2022, a Boeing 737-800 registered VH-YFZ and operated by Virgin Australia Airlines departed from Gold Coast Airport, Queensland. Immediately after take-off, the pilot noticed the aircraft tended to roll to the right, and trimmed the rudder to keep wings level. The aircraft no longer required trim when the flaps were retracted for cruise, but the issue returned when the flaps were extended for landing. There were no warnings of flap skew or asymmetry provided to the flight crew.
A walk-around inspection following the flight revealed that left outboard aft flap had not completely retracted. A subsequent engineering inspection found several components in the aft flap actuation system had failed.
Related Flight:
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