No one has mentioned United 232, a DC-10 that crashed in Souix City, Iowa in the late 80's after the forward fan section of the number two (center) engine disintergrated inflight and severed all three of the DC-10's hydraulic systems and rendered the aircraft uncontrollable.
That sounds like the same forward fan we're talking about here, and they are both GE CF-6 engines. The NTSB found metal fatigue and associated tiny cracks to be the cause in that incident and blamed United maintenance. The fan section was found sometime later in a corn field -- the plane was in flight at the time of the failure and so the engine pieces scattered to earth far and wide.
I'm amazed that the same type of failure is still happening, including the Air New Zealand plane mentioned in another post. Based on the preliminary word we're getting about this, it sounds kind of alarming.
You would think more diligence would be paid to those CF-6's since the United crash, but the same type of failure seems to be continuing. Since I'm flying on two AA 767-300's this month I would feel much better knowing the proper inspections have been performed -- obviously they were not on this aircraft or the tiny cracks would have been discovered. They don't just pop up overnight. It takes years of metal fatigue for them to develop to the point of danger.
I'd be interested in feedback from those who have some expertise in this stuff. Since they have recovered the failed parts it shouldn't take long to confirm the initial evaluation. Does the entire CF-6 powered fleet need x-ray or similar inspections -- at least for those engines that have over a certain number of hours of operation under their belt? I would think so. If so, how long would it take to perform these inspections? Are older models safe to fly in the meantime? I would think perhaps not -- this is NOT an isolated incident and the result in flight is more than a lost engine, which isn't that big of a deal. We're talking about fatal injuries to the hull, wings, fuel tank integrity, etc.
Nice to be cruising at 35,000 feet and in one fell swoop you've got an engine failure (at least one if the other isn't also hit by shrapnel), a sudden depressurization, loss of hydraulics and a fire. How many pilots can take that in a simulator and come out on top?
