New York:
The US aviation regulator on Wednesday proposed changes and safety inspections on some models of the Boeing 777 jet, after a number of engine incidents.
The most recent and dramatic event involved a United Airlines 777 engine that went up in flames shortly after takeoff in February, scattering debris across a suburb of Denver.
No one was injured, but it resulted in dozens of 777s equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines being withdrawn from service worldwide. The US Federal Aviation Administration had ordered all comparable engines to be checked before any of those models returned to the air.
On Wednesday, it said these 777 models needed modifications for safety.
“The FAA has determined that further action is needed to address the aircraft-level implications and unsafe condition resulting from defective engine fan blades,” the regulator said in a statement Wednesday, citing three incidents, including the one over Denver.
The problem was “likely to exist or develop on other products of the same type design,” it added, of which it said there were 54 in the United States and 128 worldwide.
It has proposed installing debris shields on part of the engine housing, new checks on a fan part and repeated tests on a mechanism that should be activated in the event of a fire.
The proposals, which will not be officially published until December 28, are open for comment until the end of January.
“We support these guidelines, which reflect our work with the FAA to improve the design of the engines in question,” a Boeing spokesman told AFP.
United Airlines, the only US carrier to operate these 777 models, contacted AFP and described the proposals as “a good solution”.
The company said many of the affected aircraft had already been subject to the proposed inspections.
“We expect these aircraft to join our (operational) fleet early next year,” United said.
Even before the Denver incident, air traffic controllers had weighed in on stricter inspections of the jets and their Pratt & Whitney engines, US officials had previously said.
The FAA reviewed inspection records and maintenance history after a Japan Airlines jet engine fan blade broke in December 2020. The flight landed without injuries.
The 777 is one of Boeing’s most successful commercial jets, serving more than 60 airlines around the world.
(This story was not edited by DailyExpertNews staff and was generated automatically from a syndicated feed.)