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Boeing 777s with the same engine as the one that caught fire after taking off from Denver will be temporarily banned from UK airspace.
Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps announced the move on Twitter after a United Airlines 777 using Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines bound for Hawaii was forced to make an emergency landing.
Its right engine was engulfed in flames and debris fell to the ground shortly after takeoff on Saturday.
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Plane engine fire sends debris over Denver
The 231 passengers and 10 crew members on board, as well as those on the ground, were unharmed.
Shapps’ tweet, later echoed by one from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), followed a separate incident in the Netherlands on Saturday, when a plane’s engine caught fire shortly after takeoff from Maastricht airport. and a woman was injured by falling debris.
The driving force behind that incident, which is being investigated by the Dutch Safety Board, was not the same as that of the Denver engine fire.
The US aircraft manufacturer has urged airlines to ground all 777s with the Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engine, advising against their use until the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) finds an appropriate protocol for inspections.
Currently there are 69 aircraft of this type in service and 59 in storage.
Boeing said in a statement issued Monday: “Boeing is actively monitoring recent events related to United Airlines Flight 328.
“While the NTSB [National Transportation Safety Board] The investigation is ongoing, we recommend suspending operations of the 69 777s in service and 59 in storage powered by Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines until the FAA identifies the appropriate inspection protocol.
“Boeing supports yesterday’s decision by the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau and today’s action by the FAA to suspend operations of 777 aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines.
“We are working with these regulators as they take action while these planes are on the ground and Pratt & Whitney conducts further inspections.”
The development represents a further blow for Boeing, as its 737 MAX returns to the skies nearly two years after the fleet was grounded after two fatal accidents.
Debris from the Denver flight. Photo: Broomfield Police
In the case of the 777, the FAA had previously ordered that inspections of the hollow fan blades, unique to the engine model, be “stepped up”.
It comes after another engine explosion, this one six minutes after takeoff, forced a flight between Okinawa and Tokyo to reverse in November.
And a Pratt & Whitney 4000 series engine failed when a blade broke on a United Airlines flight from San Francisco to Hawaii in 2018.
Large chunks of debris were found in Denver. Photos: Broomfield Police
In each of the incidents, no one was injured.
Two of the engine fan blades on the Hawaii flight were fractured and the rest of them “exhibited damage,” according to a separate statement from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
United Airlines, the only US airline to use the engine model in its fleet, is temporarily withdrawing the affected aircraft from service.
He said he will work closely with the FAA and the NTSB to “determine any additional steps that are necessary to ensure these aircraft meet our rigorous safety standards and are able to return to service.”
Japan has gone one step further and decided to stop operating a total of 32 aircraft with that engine, according to Nikkei Asia.
The country’s Ministry of Lands, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism also ordered the planes to be taken out of service.
Boeing’s 737 MAX fleet was grounded in March 2019 after two fatal accidents in which 346 people died.
In November, the US aviation regulator cleared the way for its return to the US skies, followed a week later by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Kingdom’s CAA. United.
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