On Saturday, February 20th United Airlines Flight 328 made an emergency landing in Denver after the right engine blew apart shortly after takeoff, raining bits of the casing on suburban neighborhoods. Federal aviation regulators have now ordered United Airlines to step up inspections on a Boeing 777s with the same type of engine that exploded that Saturday. The plane containing 231 passengers and 10 crew members on board managed to land safely at Denver International Airport.
Steve Dickinson, Federal Aviation Administration Administrator, made a statement the following Sunday saying that inspectors “concluded that the inspection interval should be stepped up for the hollow fan blades that are unique to this model of engine, used solely on Boeing 777 airplanes.” The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released a separate statement informing that two of the fan blades on the engine were fractured and the other blades “exhibited damage.” However, they also stated that it is too early to draw conclusions as to how exactly the incident happened.
Boeing has recommended that worldwide use of the 69 in-service, as well as the 59 in-storage 777s with the same engine, be suspended “until the FAA identifies the appropriate inspection protocol.” United Airlines is the only US airline with the engine in its fleet, having 24 of the 777s currently in service. United is working with the NTSB “to determine any additional steps that are needed to ensure these aircraft meet our rigorous safety standards and can return to service.” NTSB investigations have been known to take up to a year or longer to process.
Posted to Twitter is a video of the engine fully aflame as the plane flies through the air and freeze frames of a separate video taken by a passenger seated in front of the engine also posted to Twitter show a broken fan blade in the engine.