767-400 777 Pratt. Rumors
03-30-2021, 06:52 PM
#41
Covfefe
Joined APC: Jun 2015
Posts: 3,001
Pretty sure that was proposed, but not actually ever made possible, or at least not in any economically feasible way. I’m guessing some of the RR operators would have swapped if they could have.
03-30-2021, 07:47 PM
#42
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2014
Position: 787 right
Posts: 504
My understanding is that the blades get a thermal acoustic imaging inspection. They are painted, vibrated until they heat up, then photographed and inspected for cracks. Sounds pretty in depth and time consuming. The blade inspection is the first issue. The second is the engine inlet nose cowl that keeps falling off. Boeing is working on that. If we can just get a 1 for 1 replacement with 787’s and 777-9’s we’d bet set.
03-30-2021, 09:57 PM
#43
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2008
Position: 320 Captain
Posts: 655
My understanding is that the blades get a thermal acoustic imaging inspection. They are painted, vibrated until they heat up, then photographed and inspected for cracks. Sounds pretty in depth and time consuming. The blade inspection is the first issue. The second is the engine inlet nose cowl that keeps falling off. Boeing is working on that. If we can just get a 1 for 1 replacement with 787’s and 777-9’s we’d bet set.
03-31-2021, 08:33 AM
#44
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: May 2014
Position: 787 right
Posts: 504
04-01-2021, 12:23 PM
#45
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Mar 2012
Position: 777
Posts: 2,171
My understanding is that the blades get a thermal acoustic imaging inspection. They are painted, vibrated until they heat up, then photographed and inspected for cracks. Sounds pretty in depth and time consuming. The blade inspection is the first issue. The second is the engine inlet nose cowl that keeps falling off. Boeing is working on that. If we can just get a 1 for 1 replacement with 787’s and 777-9’s we’d bet set.
In my opinion, the fly in the ointment will be the analysis of the cowl failure. Aviation week just had a good article on the pressure wave created by the blade failure. This seems to be the failure mode on the cowl. I'm guessing the FAA will also require a redesign of the cowl--which may take longer to design, test, certify, then implement, than the blade fix.
04-01-2021, 03:26 PM
#46
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: 767/757 CA
Posts: 2,701
Agreed. The blade fix will be fairly straight forward. The question is how long will it take, and what kind of economics going forward, will it be feasible with reduced inspection intervals.
In my opinion, the fly in the ointment will be the analysis of the cowl failure. Aviation week just had a good article on the pressure wave created by the blade failure. This seems to be the failure mode on the cowl. I'm guessing the FAA will also require a redesign of the cowl--which may take longer to design, test, certify, then implement, than the blade fix.
In my opinion, the fly in the ointment will be the analysis of the cowl failure. Aviation week just had a good article on the pressure wave created by the blade failure. This seems to be the failure mode on the cowl. I'm guessing the FAA will also require a redesign of the cowl--which may take longer to design, test, certify, then implement, than the blade fix.
04-01-2021, 03:44 PM
#47
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2020
Posts: 2,321
this model of 777 with PWs have flown probably millions of hours since they were built... I don't see this scenario happening at all. PW will manufacture new blades and will replace the defective ones when they are evaluated. When I was at TK last month and word on the street from Flight Ops (after they visited PW Plant) is that PW had enough new blades to cover just a handful of our 777s... they are working to get new blades manufactured ASAP and will have them replaced one/one over the next 6 months.
04-01-2021, 08:30 PM
#48
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Dec 2010
Posts: 3,118
this model of 777 with PWs have flown probably millions of hours since they were built... I don't see this scenario happening at all. PW will manufacture new blades and will replace the defective ones when they are evaluated. When I was at TK last month and word on the street from Flight Ops (after they visited PW Plant) is that PW had enough new blades to cover just a handful of our 777s... they are working to get new blades manufactured ASAP and will have them replaced one/one over the next 6 months.
04-02-2021, 03:09 AM
#49
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Jun 2007
Position: 767/757 CA
Posts: 2,701
The airplane is literally unable to stay in the air and can only drift down with the cowl being blown off. Not a huge problem if you're near an airport, but if either of the UAL incidents had happened 500+ miles from shore-line, they would have been ditching in the Pacific, which is not acceptable for what is being defined as a contained failure (despite the cowling falling off) on an ETOPS bird.
04-02-2021, 04:54 AM
#50
Gets Weekends Off
Joined APC: Aug 2020
Posts: 2,321
When I was in 777 school I was told that had the HNL incident happened closer to the critical point, they wouldn’t have made it due to the increased drag and burn. Having an engine fail is one thing, having it blow large pieces of the airplane off is another. We have had two of these incidents now. The feds won’t allow a Band-aid fix and will require more inspections going forward that might prove to be cost prohibitive on old planes. It’s a bad deal. 52 aircraft is a huge chunk of the fleet.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
cashcow
Cargo
7
03-08-2007 12:43 PM
