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Infrequent inspection of fan blades led to a United jet engine breaking up in 2021, report says
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FILE - A North Metro firefighter walks past a large piece of a United airplane engine in the front yard of a home on Elmwood Street near E. 13th Avenue, Saturday, Feb. 20, 2021, in Broomfield, Colo. An engine on a United Airlines jet broke up over Denver in 2021 because of wear and tear on a fan blade that was not adequately inspected for signs of cracking, federal investigators said Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. - photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post via AP, File
WASHINGTON (AP) — An engine on a United Airlines jet broke up over Denver in 2021 because of wear and tear on a fan blade that was not adequately inspected for signs of cracking, federal investigators said Friday. The National Transportation Safety Board said manufacturer Pratt & Whitney did not call for inspections to be done frequently enough, which allowed tiny cracks to grow undetected, until the fan blade broke. The NTSB said the design and testing of the engine inlet contributed to the severity of the situation, and other factors made the engine fire worse than it should have been.