Holy Moly, these guys had their hands full on the A380 engine failure; wing and spar damage, fuel transfer system failure, imbalanced fuel, one of only two hydraulic systems working, they had to blow the gear down, and an overweight landing with only one thrust reverser available and no anti-skid. Sounds like a worst case day in the sim with a sadistic instructor, except there were over 400 pax riding in the back. This demonstrates the value of a professional pilot:

http://www.avweb.com/avwebflash/news/Qantas_A380_Was_Heavily_Damaged_203629-1.html

Uncontained engines failures happen, the aftermath in this particular plane starts to make me scratch my head.

From a friend.

Note that there are only TWO (5,000 PSI) hydraulic systems on the A380 compared to FOUR, 3,000 PSI systems on the 747...and the inability to utilize the fire bottle(s) on the engine. The A380 system design seems to be another case of too much college and not enough high school. Imagine the increased workload if those extra crewmembers had not been onboard...

Here are just SOME of the problems Richard had in Singapore last week aboard QF32.... I won't bother mentioning the engine explosion!.... oops... mentioned the engine explosion, sorry.....

* massive fuel leak in the left mid fuel tank (the beast has 11 tanks, including in the horizontal stabiliser on the tail)
* massive fuel leak in the left inner fuel tank
* a hole on the flap canoe/fairing that you could fit your upper body through
* the aft gallery in the fuel system failed, preventing many fuel transfer functions
* fuel jettison had problems due to the previous problem above
* bloody great hole in the upper wing surface
* partial failure of leading edge slats
* partial failure of speed brakes/ground spoilers
* shrapnel damage to the flaps
* TOTAL loss of all hydraulic fluid in the Green System (beast has 2 x 5,000 PSI systems, Green and Yellow)
* manual extension of landing gear
* loss of 1 generator and associated systems
* loss of brake anti-skid system
* unable to shutdown adjacent #1 engine using normal method after landing due to major damage to systems
* unable to shutdown adjacent #1 engine using the fire switch!!!!!!!!
Therefore, no fire protection was available for that engine after the explosion in #2
* ECAM warnings about major fuel imbalance because of fuel leaks on left side, that were UNABLE to be fixed with cross-feeding
* fuel trapped in Trim Tank (in the tail). Therefore, possible major CofG out-of-balance condition for landing. Yikes!
* and much more to come..........

Richard was in the left seat, FO in the right), SO in the 2nd obs seat (right rear, also with his own Radio Management Panel, so he probably did most of the coordination with the ground), Capt Dave Evans in the 1st obs seat (middle). He is a Check & Training Captain who was training Harry Wubbin to be one also. Harry was in the 3rd obs seat (left rear). All 5 guys were FLAT OUT, specially the FO who would have been processing complicated 'ECAM' messages and procedures that were seemingly never-ending!

Here's a detailed review of the incident from Aviation Week.