Cathay Pacific Flight 780

Introduction
Cathay Pacific Flight 780 was a passenger flight from Surabaya, Indonesia to Hong Kong, China. The flight suffered a double engine failure, but successfully landed at it's destination airport of Hong Kong International Airport.

Pilots
Captain Malcolm Waters and First Officer David Hayhoe, the airline’s two Australian pilots, were the flight crew on Flight 780. Both pilots were awarded the Polaris Award by the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations, the award being the highest that can be bestowed to a civil pilot.

Early Signs of Danger
The flight begins it's decent to Hong Kong, 165 miles away from the airport, as operational. Soon after beginning the decent, the plane begins to shake, and strange noises can be heard. In the cockpit, an alarm is going off. After checking their flight computer, the message 'ENG 2 STALL' appears. There was no explanation for this stall, but Captain Waters powers it down to idle in case of damage. The rocking stops and the noise ceases, signalling that the pilots did the right thing. The engine is now producing no thrust, and the pilots are relying on engine 1 to get them to Hong Kong. Captain Waters declares a 'pan', the lowest level of emergency. After the pan, the air traffic controller gives them priority over all other aircraft, meaning the aircraft can get all the help they need to get on the ground. Emergency services are put at the ready for the oncoming aircraft. Captain Waters takes control of the aircraft, and continues the decent. Everything is set, until the plane starts shaking again.

No Engines Left
A message appears on the flight computer, stating 'ENG 1 STALL'. Engine 1 has stopped working. If the plane continues with no engines, the flight will not make it to any airport. Captain Waters switches engine 1 to idle, and the plane becomes a glider. Both pilots are shocked and scared, as they might have to ditch into the South China Sea. Whilst First Officer Hayhoe goes through the ditching checklist, Captain Waters decides to try and push the engine thrust back up, but neither engine responds. First Officer Hayhoe declares a mayday, alerting air traffic control that they are in a serious emergency. Just a year before this accident, US Airways Flight 1549 successfully ditched in the Hudson River with no fatalities. The South China Sea is more turbulent than the Hudson however, and a ditching might not be as successful. Captain Waters take manual control, as ditching is safer when done manually. But Captain Waters gets an idea...

The Idea
Captain Waters pushes the engine thrust lever for engine 1 up, but very slowly. He does this to slowly put fuel into the engine, and to see if that can get the engine back up. Looking at the gauges on the A330, Captain Waters sees that this slow motion is working. The engine, slowly but surely, is gaining thrust. Captain Waters keeps pushing the engine up, and wonders if he can get the engine to full power. As he gets it up to full power, surges and popping noises begin coming from the engine, so he lowers the thrust down to 74% power, as the engine is now able to run at that. The one engine is enough for them to be able to land, and begin to level off, keeping their altitude. The crew are ready to get the flight on the ground. Captain Waters does not trust the working engine however, and questions whether it can get them to the runway. The flight is close to the airport now, and Waters puts the engine on idle, as they can make it to the runway. The crew alert the passengers of the on-going emergency, and tell the cabin crew to get ready for landing. First Officer Hayhoe extends the flaps and lowers the landing gear for the landing. Both runways are available for the landing and the flight turns to face the two runways. They are just a minute from touchdown, when a clicking sound fills the cockpit; the overspeed warning.

Overspeed
The overspeed warning means the aircraft is flying too fast, and the crew don't know why they aren't slowing. Captain Waters re-checks the controls, and everything is in order. But then Waters sees it, and his blood runs cold. Engine 1 is still at 74% thrust. 74% is too high to be able to land safely, and especially at Hong Kong. Hong Kong International Airport is built on an island, and if the aircraft overruns the runway, they'll be in the sea. The flight cannot make a go-around, and now have to land the plane with one engine at nearly full power. Their speed, over 100 knots over what it should be, makes the flight computer think the flight isn't even trying to land. 'Pull up' and 'Terrain' alarms fill the cockpit. The plane lowers down, and Captain Waters pushes the nose of the A330 forcefully down, and hits the ground hard. The plane bounced around on the runway, as it had so much thrust it couldn't keep itself on the ground. After another forceful push, Captain Waters gets the aircraft firmly on the ground, just scraping the left wing on the runway. The flight crew puts the reverse thrust out, and pushes the breaks down as hard as they can. They quickly discover that engine 2's thrust reverser is not working, and only engine 1 has it's thrust reverser deployed. The plane is reaching the end of the runway, but is decelerating. The aircraft comes to a stop near the end of the runway, using up over 8800 ft of Runway 07R.

One More Thing
The gear on the A330 isn't supposed to take as much speed as they did, and the crew wonder if they have overheated. All of the wheels are approaching 1000° C, and the crew evacuate the aircraft. According to eyewitnesses, there was smoke coming from the wheels. 57 are injured in the evacuation, and 10 are hospitalised.

Cause
It was found that superabsorbent polymer, a substance that helps remove water from fuel, had gotten into the aircraft's fuel tanks. This contaminated the fuel, leading to the engine malfunction.The aircraft's hard landing caused some minor damage, including the landing gear.