British Airways A-319 - Both Rt & Lt Engine Cowls Depart Aircraft

http://avherald.com/h?article=462beb5e

Aircraft loses both cowls in flight?

Maintenance issue maybe?

BA plane in Heathrow emergency lost unlatched engine panels on takeoff


[background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]Air accident investigators say a British Airways jet that made an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport last week lost panels from both its engines after they were left unlatched during maintenance.
In an initial report on the incident Friday, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said the unlatched fan cowl doors weren't noticed before the Airbus A319-131 took off.
The covers detached, damaging the airframe and some aircraft systems and rupturing a fuel pipe on the plane's right engine, which developed an external fire.
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BA plane in Heathrow emergency lost unlatched engine panels on takeoff

[background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]Air accident investigators say a British Airways jet that made an emergency landing at Heathrow Airport last week lost panels from both its engines after they were left unlatched during maintenance.
In an initial report on the incident Friday, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch said the unlatched fan cowl doors weren't noticed before the Airbus A319-131 took off.
The covers detached, damaging the airframe and some aircraft systems and rupturing a fuel pipe on the plane's right engine, which developed an external fire.
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I have closed many of those cowls...using a creeper of course. They are a PITA. As soon as I saw the report, I had a good idea of what happened. I have never seen a pilot get down low enough to actually verify the latch integrity.
 
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"Maintenance had been carried out on the aircraft overnight, to check the integrated drive generator oil levels, and this required the cowl doors to be opened. Photographs of the jet prior to pushback, says the AAIB, shows the doors were unlatched on both engines."

I cannot beleive that if a mechanic was pushing back that aircraft that they would not have noticed the cowls being unlatched. You can clearly see the cowl not being faired to the nose cowl and T/R when they are not latched.

Also, the pilot union has officially blamed the mechanics for the entire incident:

"David Reynolds, the head of safety at the British Airline Pilots Association said: “It is very unfortunate that the cowls were not locked. It is something the engineers to check.
“It is their job to make sure they are closed.
“A pilot’s role is to look out for anything obvious, but the only way in which they could have done this by lying on their back underneath the engines, which is not practical.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/10092099/Engine-doors-on-stricken-BA-flight-left-open-official-report-finds.html