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Metal fatigue said to cause United's Boeing 777 engine failure
来源：Shipping News Headlines 编辑：编辑部 发布：2021/02/26 10:29:43
METAL fatigue caused a fan blade to break loose on a United Airlines plane near Denver, triggering a massive engine failure leading to the grounding of dozens of Boeing 777s, says National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chairman Robert Sumwalt.
The NTSB found that metal chunks rained down on a suburban neighborhood, which suggested a crack that grew gradually over time prompted the failure, reported Bloomberg.
"Our mission is to understand not only what happened but why it happened so that we can keep it from happening again," said Mr Sumwalt.
The engines were PW4077s built by Pratt & Whitney. On December 4, a blade broke on a similar engine on a Japan Airlines 777-200 that had taken off from Okinawa on a flight to Tokyo.
Japan's transport ministry ordered JAL and ANA Holdings to ground their 777s equipped with the Pratt & Whitney engines until it's clear whether countermeasures are needed.
After the December incident, the ministry instructed the airlines to increase inspections of the engines.
The Federal Aviation Administration had been looking into the Japan incident to evaluate whether to order additional inspections, but hadn't yet reached a conclusion about whether it was warranted.
The starboard engine on United Flight 328 failed shortly after the plane took off from Denver bound for Hawaii. A pair of fan blades broke off, slamming into the structure at the front of the engine and tearing most of it loose.
Debris ranging from heavy metal objects to lighter weight insulation materials fell to the ground and passengers captured video of the mangled engine spewing flames.
The NTSB found that metal chunks rained down on a suburban neighborhood, which suggested a crack that grew gradually over time prompted the failure, reported Bloomberg.
"Our mission is to understand not only what happened but why it happened so that we can keep it from happening again," said Mr Sumwalt.
The engines were PW4077s built by Pratt & Whitney. On December 4, a blade broke on a similar engine on a Japan Airlines 777-200 that had taken off from Okinawa on a flight to Tokyo.
Japan's transport ministry ordered JAL and ANA Holdings to ground their 777s equipped with the Pratt & Whitney engines until it's clear whether countermeasures are needed.
After the December incident, the ministry instructed the airlines to increase inspections of the engines.
The Federal Aviation Administration had been looking into the Japan incident to evaluate whether to order additional inspections, but hadn't yet reached a conclusion about whether it was warranted.
The starboard engine on United Flight 328 failed shortly after the plane took off from Denver bound for Hawaii. A pair of fan blades broke off, slamming into the structure at the front of the engine and tearing most of it loose.
Debris ranging from heavy metal objects to lighter weight insulation materials fell to the ground and passengers captured video of the mangled engine spewing flames.