Transportation board issues safety recommendations for GE engines

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The National Transportation Safety Board is recommending operators of airplanes with GEnx engines inspect them after reports of engine failures. The first several Dreamliners built in North Charleston have GEnx engines.

By Matt Tomsic
mtomsic@scbiznews.com
Published Sept. 17, 2012

The National Transportation Safety Board has issued safety recommendations for the GE Aviation engines after finding indications of cracks on the engine’s fan midshaft.

The safety board is recommending all operators to examine their GEnx engines before flying if those engines haven’t been inspected yet and is recommending repetitive inspections to monitor the engines. The first several Lowcountry-built Dreamliners have GEnx engines. Boeing South Carolina was unavailable for comment.

Previous coverage NTSB finds fractured shaft in GE engine

The safety board issued its recommendation after two more incidents with GEnx engines, following the first engine failure in July during a taxi test of a Dreamliner at Charleston International Airport. The investigation of that initial incident found a fracture at the front of the engine fan’s midshaft near where it connects to the forward fan shaft with a connecting nut. The two components make up the fan shaft, which connects the front fan of the engine to the low-pressure turbine in the back.

On Aug. 31, workers found a cracked fan midshaft on a 787 in Puget Sound. The Dreamliner hadn’t been flown.

On Sept. 11, a Boeing 747 operated by Air Bridge Cargo lost power in one engine during a takeoff in Shanghai. The pilot didn’t take off and returned to the ramp, according to the safety board.

“Photographs of the low pressure turbine show damage similar to the GEnx-1B engine from the Charleston incident,” according to an NTSB news release. “The NTSB will continue to coordinate with our investigative counterparts in China.”

The safety board announced all in-service and spare GEnx-1B engines have been inspected as well as all GEnx-2B engines on passenger airplanes. But about 43 GEnx-2B engines on 747 cargo planes have not been inspected.