United Airlines engine explosion over Denver prompts company to take Boeing 777s

Federal aviation regulators order United Airlines to step up inspections of all Boeing 777s equipped with the type of engine that suffered catastrophic failure on Denver Saturday. United have said they are temporarily withdrawing those planes from service.

Advertisements a day after United Airlines Flight 328 had to make an emergency landing at Denver International Airport after its right engine burst just after take-off. Pieces of the engine crankcase, a Pratt & Whitney PW4000, rained down on the suburban neighborhoods.

The plane with 231 passengers and 10 crew on board landed safely, and no one on board or on the ground was injured, authorities said.

Federal Aviation Administration administrator Steve Dickson said in a statement on Sunday that, based on an initial review of safety data, inspectors “concluded that the inspection interval should be accelerated for Hollow fan blades which are unique to this engine model, used only on Boeing 777 aircraft. “

The National Transportation Safety Board said in a separate statement that two of the engine’s fan blades were fractured and the rest of the fan blades “showed damage.” The NTSB warned it was too early to draw any conclusions about how the incident happened.

A video posted on Twitter showed that the engine was completely engulfed in flames as the plane flew through the air. Still images from various videos taken by a passenger sitting slightly in front of the engine and posted to Twitter appeared to show a broken fan blade in the engine.

United is the only U.S. airline with the Pratt & Whitney PW4000 in its fleet, the FAA has said. United said they currently have 24 of the 777s in service.

United has said it will work closely with the FAA and the NTSB “to determine any additional steps necessary to ensure these aircraft meet our rigorous safety standards and can be returned to service.”

The NTSB said the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder had been transported to its laboratory in Washington for the data to be downloaded and analyzed. NTSB investigations can take up to a year or more, although in major cases, the agency usually releases investigative documents halfway through the process.

Japanese and South Korean airlines also operate aircraft powered by the Pratt & Whitney engine. Japan Airways and All Nippon Airways have decided to stop operating 32 aircraft combined with this engine, according to Nikkei.

Nikkei reported that Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transportation and Tourism also ordered the planes to be taken out of service, and the ministry said an engine from the same PW4000 family suffered unspecified problems on a JAL 777 flying to Haneda from Naha on December 4th. more stringent inspections in response.