"user314" (user314)
02/14/2018 at 11:25 • Filed to: Planelopnik, Code Brown, Boeing 777, Hawaii, ETOPS
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"user314" (user314)
02/14/2018 at 11:25 • Filed to: Planelopnik, Code Brown, Boeing 777, Hawaii, ETOPS | 3
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Cowling failure, engine failure, or did someone forget to torque it down properly?
United flight 1175, a Boeing 777, was forty minutes from landing in Honolulu when passengers heard a loud bang as the right engine spooled down and the cowling blew off.
Not what you want to see
“When something like this happens, you don’t know what kind of secondary damage happened when the cowling flies off the engine. It does make for some tense moments,” said aviation expert Peter Forman. “What the pilot is looking for is how this event will affect the range of plane, because there is more drag. You’re wondering if there’s any fuel lines that were damaged. I think that’s why they want fire trucks to come out after it lands, just to make sure it’s not dripping any fuel. Those are the kind of things pilots are looking for. Looks like the crew will handle it fine.”
A closer look at the engine shows a missing blade in the fan.
After declaring an emergency, the crew made a textbook landing at Daniel K. Inouye International Airport, and no one was hurt.
United Airlines issued the following statement: “United flight 1175 traveling to Honolulu from San Francisco landed safely after the pilots called for an emergency landing because of a loss of the engine cowling (the covering of the engine). Our pilots followed all necessary protocols to safely land the aircraft. The aircraft taxied to the gate and passengers deplaned normally.”
Hawai’i DOT also released a statement:“This afternoon United Airlines flight 1175 reported a mechanical issue en route to HNL. The plane landed safely with Aircraft Rescue & Fire Fighting (ARFF) personnel standing by as a precaution. The plane has been taken to the hangar. There is no impact on airport operations or runways.”
The FAA and NTSB are investigating.
WilliamsSW
> user314
02/14/2018 at 11:33 |
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Yikes - but this is way better than AA383. Glad nothing caught fire at altitude.
http://abc7chicago.com/news/investigators-look-at-engine-in-ohare-plane-fire/1582371/
ttyymmnn
> WilliamsSW
02/14/2018 at 11:35 |
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NTSB briefing: a piece of the engine disk of #AA383 was found in a UPS warehouse about 2,920 feet away from the accident site.
Well, there’s your problem. I wonder if UPS sent it back to AA with free shipping.
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ttyymmnn
> user314
02/14/2018 at 11:36 |
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WilliamsSW
> ttyymmnn
02/14/2018 at 11:38 |
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The not so re-assuring part of that is the conclusion was that the disk had an ‘undetectable’ flaw.
And if that had happened after takeoff, it would have been much, much worse.
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ttyymmnn
> WilliamsSW
02/14/2018 at 11:40 |
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So we have those kinds of faults now? Great....
promoted by the color red
> user314
02/14/2018 at 12:07 |
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Scary, but the 777 can fly on a single engine for something like a thousand miles.
Jayvincent
> user314
02/14/2018 at 19:26 |
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Flightaware says it’s a B777-200, which United’s website claims: Propulsion: Two General Electric GE90 or two Pratt & Whitney PW4070/4090 turbofan engines, rated up to 94,000 pounds of thrust each.
The single offset white stripe on the engine hub matches the PW pictures, from Wikipedia:
whereas the GE90 uses a spiral stripe like this
also note the GE90 is a composite blade with a titanium leading edge, but the failed engine picture in the article clearly shows a full metal fan blade, QED this was a PW4000 series engine. I have no idea if the blade failure caused the cowl failure or if ingesting cowl pieces caused the blade failure...
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Jayvincent
> WilliamsSW
02/14/2018 at 19:28 |
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well it’s self-detecting, eventually...