An A320 crew rejected a takeoff at 110 knots thinking that a tire had blown. At the gate it was discovered that a passenger saw flames from the right engine which was confirmed on the CIDS by maintenance as a compressor stall.
Synopsis
An A320 crew rejected a takeoff at 110 knots thinking that a tire had blown. At the gate it was discovered that a passenger saw flames from the right engine which was confirmed on the CIDS by maintenance as a compressor stall.
Narrative
During the initial cockpit check; the APU FUEL LP VALVE ECAM came on. Wrote maintenance write up and maintenance came up to try to fix it. Couldn't; so they deferred it which in opted the APU. Had to do an engine start at the gate (left engine). Pushed back normally. Since we had a wheels up of 44 minutes past the hour; we taxied single engine. About 10 minutes prior to wheels up we started the right engine. (all parameters normal). Had about 8 minutes on the right engine when we were cleared into position on to runway 22R. Still everything normal. First officer was his leg. We were cleared for take off. Again all was normal; about 100 mph heard a noise and (thought the right tire had blown) felt the airplane lurch slightly. By then 110 kts. I told the First Officer I had the airplane and did a high speed abort. Everything went like clockwork. The First Officer was sure it was the nose gear; I felt it was the right main. Ground control said saw no smoke so we taxied to the gate (16). They had us wait with one engine (left) running waiting for a Customer Service Representative at gate 16. After 5 minutes with left engine running our purser called and said a passenger at 21F had seen sparks and fire from the right engine. Now all this time we thought it was tire problems. I got on the operations frequency said we needed a Customer Service Representative to get the jetway now! Finally after a couple of minutes they came. I ordered the passengers off which I'm sure the Customer Service Representative's would have done too. Our abort went like a perfect abort. First Officer and I worked very well together. Only fault I had with myself; we did not declare an emergency. I had thought it but again we thought it was only a tire issue especially when Airport Operations said everything looked fine outside. My thought it was tire debris that made the airplane swerve slightly. We had no loud sounds in cockpit; No ECAMs came on. Everything looked normal. When maintenance came on board; found on CIDS that the 2 engine stall occurred. We were surprised then I spoke with the passenger in 21F; and it was a textbook scenario of a compressor stall. Sparks then none when power brought up then on takeoff he heard a boom and a ball of fire coming out of the right engine. Again; my surprise was how quiet it was in the cockpit. No indications etc. either. My complaints would be as follows: 1. Lack of communications and follow through on the part of Company Operations. 2. Shows on the CIDS we had an engine stall but nothing on ECAM. 3. I should have regardless what happened declared an emergency. Can always retract it for future reference for myself.
Second reporter narrative
The Captain thought what ever it was it was on the right side of the aircraft. As we exited the runway a Airport Operations vehicle was right there and reported no smoke from anywhere on the aircraft and we taxied back to Gate with Airport Operations following us. (Note: No aircraft in the long line of departures offered any inputs to our queries on the Tower Frequency about our status). The Captain suggested I make a PA and call the flight attendants. I made a PA to the passengers and told them we suspected we blew a tire and would have to go back to the gate and have the aircraft inspected. I called the flight attendants to ensure they were OK and see if they had any inputs. We arrived back at Gate and asked for the wheels to be chocked and for the Pax to be removed as we suspected this was going to take a while to come to a logical conclusion maintenance found all the wheels were fine and were getting ready to look at the engine 2 when I pulled up the ECAM report in CIDS and it showed an ENG 2 STALL. (Note: Why was it in CIDS and we got no ECAM on the ECAM Display at the time of occurrence?) We gave the CIDS report to the mechanics. The Flight Attendant told us when we opened the cockpit door a passenger had seen sparks and fire from the number 2 engine during the takeoff roll. The Captain debriefed the passenger on what he saw. We debriefed with the Flight Attendants and an ALPA Safety Representative who happened to be onboard the aircraft.
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Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.