Turbine explosion in mid-flight in the USA leads to suspension of travel with Boeing 777
Turbine damaged in mid-flight; plane made emergency landing and no one was hurt
American aircraft maker Boeing recommended suspending all 777 aircraft with the same type of engine that suffered damage and scattered debris over Denver on Saturday (20/2).
Boeing said 128 jets must be suspended until inspections are carried out.
United Airlines and Japan's two main operators have already stopped using 56 planes with the same engine.
Flight 328, carrying 231 passengers, was forced to make an emergency landing at Denver airport. Nobody was hurt.
Pratt & Whitney said it sent a team to work with the investigators.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), United is the only airline in the United States flying this 777 model, with the others in Japan and South Korea.
Korean Air, which has six planes in operation and 10 in storage, said it was awaiting instructions from South Korean regulators on measures for its 777 jets.
United flight 328, bound for Honolulu, suffered an engine failure on the right side. Debris from the jet was found scattered in a nearby residential area after it returned to Denver airport.
Parts of the plane crashed in a residential area
The agency ordered extra inspections of Boeing 777 jets equipped with the Pratt & Whitney 4000 engine after the incident. "We reviewed all the security data available after the [Saturday] incident," said FAA administrator Steve Dickson in a statement.
"Based on the initial information, we concluded that the inspection interval should be increased for the hollow fan blades, exclusive to this engine model, used exclusively on Boeing 777 aircraft".
The FAA met with representatives of the engine company and Boeing on Sunday night.
The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) initial discovery is that most damage occurred to the engine where two fan blades were broken and other blades were also impacted. The main body of the plane suffered only minor damage.
Smoke coming out of the flight that had turbine problems on Saturday
The engine failure is another blow to Boeing after its 737 Max aircraft was down for 18 months after two plane crashes that left 346 dead.
'Shaking violently'
Passengers aboard the Denver flight described a "big explosion" just after takeoff.
"The plane started to shake violently, we lost altitude and started to descend," said David Delucia. He added that he and his wife put their wallets in their pockets so that "if we fell, we could be identified".
Broomfield city police posted photos of what appeared to be the front of an engine box in the front yard of a house. Other fragments were seen around the city, including on a soccer field.
No one was hurt by the falling debris.
No one was injured in the United plane incident
In Japan, all 777s with Pratt & Whitney 4000 engines should avoid their airspace until further notice. This includes takeoffs, landings and flights across the country.
The local government has also ordered airlines JAL and ANA to suspend the use of their 777s with the same engine model.
Last December, a JAL flight was forced to return to Naha airport due to a problem with the left engine.
In 2018, the right engine of a United Airlines plane broke down shortly before landing in Honolulu. After an investigation, the NTSB said the incident was caused by a full-length fan blade fracture.
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