US Aviation Regulator Issues Inspection Order For Pratt & Whitney Turbofan Engines On Airbus

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Friday issued an inspection order for some users of Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan engine to prevent a part failure that could damage the airplane. The FAA directive comes a month after Pratt & Whitney parent RTX Corp said that more than 1,000 engines must be removed from Airbus planes and checked for microscopic cracks. 

In July, RTX Corp disclosed a “rare condition” associated with powdered metal, that may result in inspecting 1,200 out of the over 3,000 engines crafted for the twin-engine Airbus A320neo between 2015 and 2021. 

As per a Reuters report, the US FAA issued an airworthiness directive on Friday, asking for an ultrasonic examination of the high-pressure turbine disks’ first and second stages within 30 days. The directive mandates that if these disks exhibit signs of fatigue, they must be replaced before any additional flights. The directive comes into immediate effect.

FAA directive may affect 20 engines on US-registered carries and 202 engines worldwide, the report noted. 

The urgency of the directive is underscored by an incident in December 2022, when a GTF engine’s high-pressure compressor failure prompted an aborted takeoff. RTX’s analysis following the incident uncovered that the disks are more susceptible to early failure than initially believed, the news agency report noted. 

Pratt & Whitney has already issued instructions on August 4 for disk inspections. The directive underlines that “material anomalies,” such as microcracks, could lead to untimely fractures and uncontrolled failures, posing immediate flight safety risks.

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Earlier this year, Cash-strapped airline Go First blamed engine maker Pratt & Whitney while filing for voluntary insolvency proceedings. 

The airline said, “Go First has had to take this step due to the ever-increasing number of failing engines supplied by Pratt & Whitney’s International Aero Engines, LLC, which has resulted in Go First having to ground 25 aircraft (equivalent to approximately 50 per cent of its Airbus A320neo aircraft fleet) as of 1 May 2023.”

“The percentage of grounded aircraft due to Pratt & Whitney’s faulty engines has grown from 7 per cent in December 2019 to 31 per cent in December 2020 to 50 per cent in December 2022. This is despite Pratt & Whitney making several ongoing assurances over the years, which it has repeatedly failed to meet,” it added.