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Bad news for US aircraft maker Boeing and propulsion maker Pratt & Whitney: After a Boeing 777 engine failure near Denver, these types of wide-body aircraft are threatened with a flight ban. In Japan and Great Britain, machines with this unit from Pratt & Whitney can no longer take off at the moment. The US aviation authority FAA announced a corresponding emergency policy.
“This probably means that some planes will have to be taken out of service,” FAA Chief Steve Dickson said on Sunday (local time).
Debris crash
On Saturday, after an engine failure, large parts of planes from a United Airlines (UA) Boeing 777 crashed into residential areas near Denver as debris. A video filmed by a passenger shows flames emanating from the right engine during the flight. At this point, the panel had already sunk into the depths.
According to the FAA, the right engine failed shortly after takeoff. The plane landed safely at Denver International Airport with 241 people on board. There were no reports of injuries, either on board or ashore. The plane was heading from Denver to the Hawaiian capital, Honolulu.
Boeing recommended that airlines leave the world’s 128 planes powered by Pratt & Whitney PW-4000-112 engines on the ground for now. This applies as long as the investigation of the US Accident Investigation Authority NTSB continues and until the FAA has developed the necessary rules for an inspection of the units. 69 of the machines are currently in operation and 59 are in storage.
Three types of driving
The Boeing 777 wide-body aircraft has been built since the 1990s. When purchasing, customers can choose from three types of units. Munich-based engine manufacturer MTU is also involved in the running of Pratt & Whitney. Many machines in the series are equipped with competitive engines from General Electric or Rolls-Royce. These are not affected by the current problem.
Boeing says it supports the decision of the Japanese Civil Aviation Authority and the FAA to suspend operations and is working with them. Pratt & Whitney also announced that they would support modified inspection intervals for the unit type. Announcement of the results of further investigation is at the discretion of the NTSB.
Flight bans
As a precautionary measure, Japan’s Ministry of Transport ordered a flight ban for aircraft equipped with the affected engines in its own country. This affects 13 Japan Airlines (JAL) aircraft and 19 All Nippon Airways (ANA) aircraft, as announced by the Ministry in Tokyo.
The same applies to Great Britain. Machines with the engine type cannot use the country’s airspace for the time being, British Transport Minister Grant Shapps and the CAA aviation authority announced on Monday on Twitter news service. British airlines are not affected.
According to its own information, the European aeronautical authority EASA is in contact with the FAA. They have asked for more information about the case so that the necessary measures can be taken.
Precautionary measure
United Airlines announced that it will voluntarily remove 24 Pratt & Whitney 4000 series Boeing 777 aircraft from its flight schedule as a precautionary measure. You must ensure that these aircraft meet strict safety standards and can be returned to service. There are currently 52 of these aircraft in the fleet: 24 active and 28 in storage.
According to a spokesperson, the Lufthansa Group only uses General Electric engines that are not affected by Lufthansa Cargo, Switzerland and Austria.
The incident is new bad news for US company Boeing, which only came under pressure last week due to possible production defects in the long-haul 787 “Dreamliner.” Therefore, the FAA had ordered inspections of around 222 aircraft because there was a risk of damage to the so-called decompression panels to separate the passenger area.
Group in trouble
The group has already been severely affected by the fallout from the crown crisis and the debacle of its best-selling 737 Max series, which was banned from flights worldwide for more than a year and a half after two accidents involving a total of 346 dead. In the last fiscal year, the company had a record loss of more than $ 11.9 billion.
