FAA Urges United Airlines to Inspect Boeing 777s

Federal aviation regulators urge United Airlines to inspect the Boeing 777s that have the same PW400 engine that failed last Saturday. This announcement came following the United Flight 328 incident where the Boeing 777-200 experienced engine failure 20 minutes after taking off from Denver Airport.

The United Airlines Flight 328 pilot called for a mayday last Saturday and had to maneuver an emergency landing procedure after passengers heard a loud bang on the plane’s right engine. All 231 passengers and 10 crew members were safe. Also, pieces of debris from the plane were reported in the Denver neighborhood where the plane was flying over.

Closer Look at Boeing 777s

The Federal Aviation Administration Administrator Steve Dickson said that the “inspection interval should be stepped up”. He mentioned that the plane has hollow fan blades that’s unique to the Boeing 777s. In a separate statement by the National Transportation Safety Board, they described the fan blades to have “exhibited damage”. However, the NTSB still has no conclusion on how the incident happened.

United already reported that it is already removing the aircraft and cooperating with the FAA and the NTSB. They reported 24 Boeing 777 airplanes have been removed from service following the incident. This way, the airline company can meet the “rigorous safety standards” on their planes.

Unfortunately, reports of what went wrong can take a while. NTSB investigations can take a year or even longer.

Not the First Time

The Pratt & Whitney engine is also used on planes by Japanese and South Korean airline companies. Both Japan Airways and All Nippon Airways decided to stop operating a total of 32 planes with the PW 4000 engine.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that the PW 4000 failed. The JAL 777, using the same PW 4000 engine, flying to Haneda from Naha on December 4 also suffered engine trouble. Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, and Tourism already ordered to put out planes with the same engine.