179 aircraft affected by FAA mandate on 787 GEnx-1B PIP2 engines

The FAA has issued an Airworthiness Directive (AD) for the PIP2 GE Aviation GEnx engine, ordering a modification after a “recent engine fan blade rub event … caused an inflight non-restartable power loss” on a GEnx-1B Performance Improvement Package (PIP) 2 engine. In addition, it has ordered revised guidance for pilots operating 787s to mitigate potential “engine damage due to fan ice shedding.”
The FAA confirmed that an inflight shutdown happened on a 787 flying at 20,000ft in icing conditions, though because the other engine was an older GEnx-1B PIP1 engine, that was not affected during the icing incident. The FAA were concerned over the “potential” for an “urgent safety issue” for any aircraft with two PIP2 engines failing during an icing incident.
As a consequence, the FAA is mandating modification to at least one PIP2 engine on any 787-8 or 787-9 aircraft equipped with two of these engines. It is understood that this will affect 176 aircraft operated by 29 different carriers. However, Boeing and GE advised that prior to this AD they had developed a modification for the engine with guidance for a fix issued to airlines and that reworking of the engines was already under way.
GE have advised that the modification can be carried out in approximately 16 hours and performed during a scheduled maintenance check without the need to remove the engine from a 787. It is understood that the FAA have given airlines until October 2, 2016, to finish the modifications.
Additionally, the FAA has ordered “a revised fan ice removal procedure” for 787 flight crews to follow and “a new daily flight crew briefing on the existing engine ice shed procedure,” giving airlines until May 16, 2016 to comply with this aspect of the AD.