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US NTSB cites inadequate inspections in 2021 United Airlines engine failure
The National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday the February 2021 engine failure on a United Airlines Boeing 777 in Colorado was due to a crack in a fan blade and cited inadequate inspections as a contributing cause. Soon after the failure, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered immediate inspections of 777 aircraft with Pratt & Whitney 4000 engines before further flights, which led to the planes' grounding for more than a year. The Boeing 777-200 bound for Honolulu… (www.msn.com) More...
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Fake parts being used, inadequate inspections, near misses on tarmac, near misses in air, contact of planes while taxiing, clueless ATC, out of control TSA, racist pilots for not getting #clotshot...diversity and equity will get you killed yet!
There is this rare thing called "maintenance audits" by the NTSB. Are the civil servants too lazy or just plain incompetent in their jobs.
Did you read the article? Not sure why I asked that because I already know the answer is "no"
From the article:
> insufficient frequency of the manufacturer’s inspection intervals, which permitted the low-level crack indications to propagate undetected and ultimately resulted in the fatigue failure."
An audit of United's records would not have uncovered anything. They were doing everything per engine and plane manufacturer standards and what was legally required. The issue is given the design (flaws?!) of the specific PW engine, the blades require more frequent inspection than was called for in the mx prodecures.
From the article:
> insufficient frequency of the manufacturer’s inspection intervals, which permitted the low-level crack indications to propagate undetected and ultimately resulted in the fatigue failure."
An audit of United's records would not have uncovered anything. They were doing everything per engine and plane manufacturer standards and what was legally required. The issue is given the design (flaws?!) of the specific PW engine, the blades require more frequent inspection than was called for in the mx prodecures.
Ouch... I smell a Big Fine Brewing... No reason for this kind of failure!
No chance tbh. Would have already been handed down. Incident was coming up on 3 years ago. We've already been through an investigation, a grounding, a bunch of directives and the 772PW is back in the sky for a year now. Fine would have already come
It's not clear to me from the story whether United is being blamed, or Pratt & Whitney, or Boeing, or all three. If United followed the manufacturer's recommended inspection intervals I think they're off the hook.
It's United. They're the ones inspecting the engine and they're expected to find things like this. And even if UA outsources their 772 mx, it's still on United.
Procedures are done by the manual published by the manufacturer, in this case P&W
