On December 8, 2002, Boeing 767-219ER aircraft, registered ZK-NBC, sustained a failure of the number-1 (left) engine during a scheduled regular passenger transport flight from Brisbane to Auckland. The flight crew reported a loud 'bang' and felt the aircraft move to the right, followed by a progressive yaw to the left. The crew shut down the left engine, a GE CF6-80A and completed checklist items before returning the aircraft to Brisbane. An initial engineering evaluation of the left engine revealed the loss of the outboard fan cowl section and a large rupture of the outboard core cowl, with associated damage to the engine strut and wing leading edge flap above that area. The engine core showed the complete circumferential disruption of the high-pressure turbine casing and the loss of a large segment of the first-stage high-pressure turbine disk. The low speed (N1) spool shaft had fractured between the first and second-stage turbine disks.

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