The Federal Aviation Administration issued an emergency airworthiness directive on Sunday calling for immediate or more intensive inspections of aircraft similar to those that caught fire over Denver this weekend.
The order concerns Boeing 777 aircraft equipped with certain Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines and “will likely mean that some aircraft will be withdrawn from service,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in a statement
The order came after a United Airlines passenger jet powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines suffered a fiery engine failure in mid-air on Saturday, forcing an emergency landing.
No injuries were reported aboard the jet bound to Honolulu, despite the dramatic videos showing one of the engines on fire and rattling loose.
There were too no reports of injuries in a suburb of Broomfield, where huge chunks of engine and debris ended up on yards, parks and vehicles.
An initial evaluation of the incident showed that “the inspection interval needs to be increased for the hollow fan blades unique to this model engine used exclusively in Boeing 777 aircraft,” said Dickson.
United is the only US operator with the PW4000 engine type in its fleet.
With pole wires