Boeing receives FAA inspection order on some 777 engines after United failure
The engines are used on 128 planes, or less than 10% of the global fleet of 777 jets.
As Boeing faces scrutiny following a 777 engine failure, Tigress Financial Partners CIO and Boeing analyst Ivan Feinseth argues that 'pent up demand' for travel after the COVID-19 vaccine rollout will need to be met by more inspections.
WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said on Tuesday it was ordering immediate inspections of Boeing 777-200 planes with Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines before further flights after an engine failed on a United flight on Saturday.
Operators must conduct a thermal acoustic image inspection of the large titanium fan blades located at the front of each engine, the FAA said.
The National Transportation Safety Board said on Monday that a cracked fan blade from the United Flight 328 engine that caught fire was consistent with metal fatigue.
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"Based on the initial results as we receive them, as well as other data gained from the ongoing investigation, the FAA may revise this directive to set a new interval for this inspection or subsequent ones," the FAA said.
In March 2019, after a 2018 United engine failure attributed to fan blade fatigue, the FAA ordered inspections every 6,500 cycles. A cycle is one take-off and landing.
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South Korea's transport ministry said on Tuesday it had told its airlines to inspect the fan blades every 1,000 cycles following guidance from Pratt after the latest United incident.
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An airline would typically accumulate 1,000 cycles about every 10 months on a 777, according to an industry source familiar with the matter.
The engine that failed on the 26-year-old Boeing 777 and shed parts over a Denver suburb on Saturday was a PW4000. The engines are used on 128 planes, or less than 10% of the global fleet of more than 1,600 delivered 777 widebody jets.
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Boeing had recommended that airlines suspend the use of the planes while the FAA identified an appropriate inspection protocol, and Japan imposed a temporary suspension on flights after that incident.
United, the only U.S. operator, had temporarily grounded its fleet before the FAA announcement.