What happened
During the takeoff roll of a three-engine aircraft, the plane began drifting to the right as it approached 50 KIAS. The first officer, who was operating the aircraft at the time, attempted to correct the drift using left rudder. As the rightward drift became more pronounced, the crew applied hard left rudder.
The captain then took control of the aircraft and retarded all three throttles. An attempt was made to regain directional control through the use of asymmetrical thrust, but when this proved unsuccessful, the throttues were retarded further and reverse thrust was applied to stop the aircraft.
On the following morning, a different crew attempted a takeoff in the same aircraft but rejected the takeoff after the No. 3 engine failed.
The investigation
A post-incident inspection of the aircraft following the initial excursion revealed no apparent damage. However, a subsequent disassembly and inspection of the No. 3 engine following the second incident revealed several issues. Investigators found metal debris in the tailpipe, as well as sand and mud within the compressor section. The inspection also identified that one 13th stage compressor blade and two 14th stage compressor blades had broken off, which resulted in extensive damage to both the high pressure and low pressure turbines.