Boeing 787 Dreamliner In Trouble After FAA Orders ‘Urgent Engine Fix’

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been around for a while now. While the new wide body aircraft has been praised for its better interiors, fuel efficiency, and overall improvements, it has had a history of nagging problems. And it seems there is no end to it in sight — even five years after its first commercial flight in 2011.

The newest cause of worry for the Dreamliner comes after the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered several modifications on specific General Electric-made engines that are used on several Boeing 787 Dreamliner models, a CNN report says. According to the report, the modifications were ordered after officials discovered that these General Electric engines could potentially suffer from an icing problem that could lead to the engines being shut down mid flight.

The safety issue first showed up on January 29 after the problem was discovered on a 787 Dreamliner that was flying at 20,000 feet. Following an investigation into the incident, the FAA issued an airworthiness directive (AD) on April 22 in which it described the incident. The directive was an update to a similar directive that was issued in March. The FAA described the January 29 incident as a “significant fan rub event” that involved a GEnx-1B Performance Improvement Program (PIP) 2 engine. The cause of the fan rub event was found to be caused by partial fan ice shedding. This resulted in what is described as fan imbalance which in turn caused “substantial damage” to the engine which shut down mid flight.

The FAA adds that they “continue to investigate this issue with Boeing and GE.” The FAA, however, seems to have deduced that the problem only affects aircraft using the newer GEnx-1B PIP2 engine. The Dreamliner that was affected by the problem had a second engine which was an older model (GEnx-1B PIP1). This older engine continued to operate normally even after being subject to the same conditions as the newer engine. The FAA says that since there are several planes that use two GEnx-1B PIP2 engines (the Dreamliner is a twin jet), there lies a possibility that total engine failure could happen on such flights.

The directive would be effective starting May 9, 2016, which could mean that several flights that are being serviced by Boeing 787s could see disruptions. There are 43 Boeing 787 Dreamliners in the U.S. alone that would be affected by the directive. The FAA directive does say that airplanes could be grounded — in some cases. The manufacturer of the engine, GE, added that they are working with operators to ensure minimum disruption. According to GE Aviation spokesman Rick Kennedy, the procedure to fix the problem takes about 16 hours. On a global scale, the directive would affect the operations of 176 Dreamliner planes across 29 airlines. While the FAA does not have jurisdiction over other airlines, most airline regulatory authorities follow leads from FAA directives. This means we could in the next few days see similar directives being issued by other agencies.

Kennedy adds, “GE is working with operators to avoid airline disruption. The process (to fix the issue) takes about 16 hours using a fan grinding machine. All of the work is done on-wing with no engine removals.”

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is Boeing’s most sophisticated passenger plane to date. The aircraft is known for its super-lightweight, strong construction materials that mainly comprises of carbon-fiber reinforced plastic. Unlike older aircraft, the Dreamliner is not made of aluminum. The lower weight and better interiors coupled with great fuel efficiency ensured that the aircraft was lapped up by airline companies and put to use across several high-capacity routes across the globe.

Would you feel comfortable getting into a Dreamliner now that you are aware of this directive?

[Image By José A. Montes – Flickr: Boeing 787 Dreamliner N787BX, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons]