An NTSB report says the engine failed in United Airlines’ flight after pilots increased their power
The NTSB update also said that the propeller blade that malfunctioned on the Boeing 777 engine had recently received a thorough wear and tear check in 2016 and was less than halfway through the point of requiring another inspection.
An NTSB achievement usually takes a year or more to complete. The Seven Pages The report was released on Friday It did not reach any conclusions about the cause of the accident nor stipulate other steps that the Federal Aviation Administration, aircraft operators, or the engine manufacturer should take.
“Immediately after pushing the throttle, a loud bang” was recorded on the cockpit voice recorder, the report said.
Travis Locke, a passenger on Flight 328, said he heard a boom about 20 minutes after takeoff.
The report stated that the flight data recorder indicated that “the engine shut down without commands, and the engine fire warning light was activated shortly after.”
The report said the pilots followed fire-fighting measures and decided not to empty fuel to make the plane lighter before landing. They concluded that “the magnitude of the excessive decline was not large enough to overcome the other considerations.”
The report said that the valve that cut off the flow of fuel to the engine in the event of a fire had closed properly and said, “There is no evidence of a fuel-powered fire.” The report referred to damage to “fuel, oil and hydraulic lines.”
The report said that the engine caught fire after it landed at the airport, but that firefighters “were quickly extinguished.”
The part whose last scan failed in 2016
Friday’s NTSB report said the fan blade that failed was examined using specialized thermal-acoustic imaging technology in both 2014 and 2016. The scan looks for small cracks or signs of metal fatigue that may not be visible to the naked eye.
The National Bureau of Transportation Safety said that after a 2018 engine accident on a different plane, the 2016 data was analyzed again.
The report noted that when the propeller blade failed last month, it was less than halfway so much that it required further examination – a detail CNN had previously mentioned. It ran 2,979 revolutions, which is a rough measure of how often the engine has been started and shut down. Inspection was required after 6,500 cycles.
Days after the February accident, engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney recommended that the inspection interval be drastically reduced to just 1,000 cycles, according to a service bulletin obtained by CNN. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency directive requiring that the propeller blades on the engines be inspected before flying again.
The inspection period for this series of engines was a concern of federal regulators. CNN previously reported that the FAA Review Board met just days before the February drive failed to consider requesting more regular inspections.
In the wake of the engine failure, Boeing recommended a suspension of use of its 777s that had the Pratt & Whitney 4000 engine, and United Airlines had already withdrawn its 777s after the accident. Both the FAA and NTSB are investigating.
Aviation analysts at CNN said at the time that such an engine failure was more likely to occur on takeoff, when the plane needed more power from the engines.
“If there is a malfunction hidden inside – between all those fans and turbines that rotate around this tremendous force and under tremendous pressure and thermal differences – if there is a malfunction inside, then you will find out,” said Miles O’Brien, CNN Aviation Analyst, Miles O’Brien.
Let’s just pray
The flight was bound for Honolulu when passengers reported a loud boom. About 240 people were on board, and some looked out of their windows to see an exposed engine spewing out flames as pieces of the plane fell.
“We looked at each other, my wife and I hung out, and we just wished our kids would see them again,” Bob Brown told CNN’s KCNC.
Brenda Don was traveling with her children when she saw smoke outside the window.
Once the plane returned safely to the ground, passengers cheered before exiting. And Locke got a chance to calm his nerves before preparing for the rest of his journey.
“We have a cocktail,” he told CNN at the time. “And yes, we’ll try again. We’ll try again. The odds are with us this time.”
Eric Levinson of CNN, Pete Montaigne, and Prince Vera contributed to this report.
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