Inspection of GE and Pratt & Whitney A380 engine ordered by FAA after last month’s uncontained failure

Following the uncontained failure of one of the four engines powering an Air France A380 superjumbo over the Atlantic Ocean last month, the FAA has ordered an inspection of a number of engines powering Airbus 380s. The Air France jet’s engines were made by Engine Alliance, a joint venture between General Electric Co. and United Technologies Corp’s Pratt & Whitney.
The inspection has been ordered as the FAA had determined that there was an “unsafe condition” that “is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design,” according to what was stated in a directive. This is an initial step, after which the FAA may demand further actions be taken, much of which will depend on what any investigation establishes was the reason for the failure in the problem engine. While the FAA, on a daily basis, issues legally binding orders for repairs to aircraft, emergency directives, such as this one, are rare and are issued only where there is a perceived imminent safety risk. The inspection directive means that engines with at least 3,500 flights must be inspected within two weeks. Power plants with less than 3,500 flights but more than 2,000 have to be inspected within five weeks, according to the FAA.
The Airbus A380 superjumbo was forced to make an emergency landing in eastern Canada on September 30. Airbus and France’s BEA air-accident investigation bureau immediately dispatched a team of experts to Canada to investigate. While engine malfunctions aren’t unusual, ‘uncontained failures’, where metal parts from within blast through a protective exterior sleeve, are. Explosions of this nature are more serious as they can cause catastrophic damage to a wing which holds fuel, passenger areas, and/or the plane’s hydraulic controls.