Federal aviation officials ordered “intensified” inspections of some Boeing 777 aircraft on Sunday after an engine failure on a United Denver flight caught fire and broke up, scattering debris in a Colorado neighborhood before landing safely.
The inspections would apply to 777s equipped with Pratt & Whitney model PW4000 engines, said Steve Dickson, administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration.
Dickson said he made the decision – which will likely withdraw some aircraft from service – after consulting a team of aviation security experts.
“Based on the initial information, we concluded that the inspection interval should be increased for hollow fan blades, exclusive to this engine model, used exclusively on Boeing 777 aircraft,” he said.
United said it was immediately suspending its fleet of 24 Boeing aircraft equipped with Pratt & Whitney engines. The airline said it is working with federal investigators and regulators and that it expects a small number of customers to be disturbed during the switch.
Federal officials said only the United States, South Korea and Japan use PW4000 powered planes, and United is the only American airline that uses them.
Reuters, citing Japan’s Aeronautical Services Information Center, said the country also prevented aircraft from flying with a Pratt & Whitney engine.
Neither Boeing nor Pratt & Whitney responded immediately to a request for comment.
The video of a passenger on United Flight 328 – which was carrying 231 people to Honolulu on Saturday – showed one of the plane’s burning engines falling apart in the sky. A flight pilot reported a “mayday” and told air traffic control that the plane had an “engine failure”, officials said.
Large pieces of metal fell in a neighborhood in Broomfield, Colorado, although there were no reports of injuries. The pilot turned the plane around and landed safely at Denver International Airport.