Boeing has recommended halting flights of similarly engineered aircraft to those that suffered catastrophic mid-flight failures over the weekend.
United Airlines bound for Hawaii was forced into a plane forced landing On Saturday, its right-hand drive was seen engulfed in flames and falling debris towards the ground.
All 231 passengers and 10 crew on the plane, as well as those on the ground, were unharmed.
The plane caused debris to fall to the ground
The aircraft’s engine, Pratt & Whitney PW4000, is only used on Boeing 777s.
Boeing has now said operations of all of its Pratt & Whitney-powered 777s should be suspended until the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) finds an appropriate protocol for inspections.
Currently, there are 69 aircraft in service and 59 in storage.
The development represents a new blow for Boeing 737 Max It returns to the sky nearly two years after the fleet was stopped after two fatal accidents.
In the case of the 777, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier ordered inspections of the hollow propeller blades unique to the engine model.
At least three other accidents involving Pratt & Whitney engines have been recorded in recent memory.
• One of the four engines failed on board a Boeing 747-412 cargo plane within minutes of leaving Maastricht in the Netherlands on Saturday.
Three months ago, a flight between Okinawa and Tokyo was forced to retreat after an engine exploded six minutes after takeoff
Another 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 have been found in Denver. Pics: Broomfield Police
No one was injured in every accident.
Two of the engine’s fan blades from the Hawaiian flight were broken and the remainder was “damaged,” according to a separate statement from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
However, she added that it was too early to draw conclusions about how the accident happened.
United Airlines, the only US airline to use the engine model in its fleet, is temporarily removing affected aircraft from service.
It said it will work closely with the Federal Aviation Administration and the NTSB “to identify any additional steps needed to ensure these aircraft meet our stringent safety standards and can return to service.”
Japan went a step further and decided to decommission a total of 32 aircraft with this engine, according to the Nikkei Asia Index.
The country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has also ordered the planes to be taken out of service.
The Boeing 737 Max fleet was grounded in March 2019 after two fatal accidents in which 346 people were killed.
In November, the aviation regulator in the United States Paved the way for her return to the skies of the United StatesA week later, it was followed by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the UK’s CAA.