The Air France A380 that made an emergency landing in Goose Bay almost two weeks ago remains stranded there while the airline works on a complex scheme to get it back to France.
The airline will do what is known as a three-engine ferry, which is a common way to get four-engine airliners back to a properly equipped maintenance base to fix or replace a bad engine. But it’s a lot more complicated in this case.
Engineers have determined that to make the Atlantic crossing safely, a new engine will have to be hung from the damaged pylon that holds the shattered remains of the engine that disintegrated over Greenland on Sept. 30. The whole front section of the engine, including the three-metre front fan, separated and the parts fell in a remote area of Greenland. The new engine can’t be made operable because of the other damage to the pylon and wing but the engineers say it’s necessary to have the dummy engine there for balance and aerodynamics.
It’s not clear how long it will take to swap the engine.