![]() The evidence from the cockpit suggests that yes, the pilots took action. NTSB Did the pilots do anything about the fire in the engine? This image shows the two broken fan blades. ![]() They can be seen with your eye, but “each of those marks, once you put it under a scanning electron microscope, you can actually count the number of cycles since the initiation of that fatigue,” he added.Įxpect the issue of blade’s metal fatigue to be an ongoing theme with this investigation. “In metal fatigue, you’re usually going to find what I will describe as ‘beach marks,’” he said. Interestingly, he compared it to what you might see on a beach as a result of the water’s motion after the water laps in and out on the sand. In response to a question from journalist Tom Costello, Sumwalt explained that what can be gleaned visually suggests metal fatigue as the culprit. Why do they think metal fatigue caused this problem? In brief: the problem may have been catalyzed by a single fan blade breaking off, which then hit another blade. “Basically, it probably got hit as the other piece was separating,” Sumwalt said. The other blade, which broke in the middle, likely did so because of the impact of that first blade. “Regarding the fan blade that was fractured at the root: A preliminary, on-scene exam indicates damage consistent with metal fatigue,” he added. A separate, littler piece ended up on a soccer field below. Officials discovered one blade “embedded in the engine containment ring,” Sumwalt said. “Two fan blades were found fractured-one fan blade fractured at the root, which is where it joins into the hub, and the other adjacent blade was fractured at about mid-span,” Sumwalt said. In this case, it appears that one fan blade completely broke off from the hub to which it was attached. (Another engine, the GE9X that will power the new 777x, sports only 16.) This engine, made by Pratt and Whitney, had 22 blades. The jet engines you see hanging under an airplane’s wings are called turbofans, and those fans at the front of the unit produce the thrust the airplane needs to get going fast enough to lift off the ground with all those people and suitcases and fuel on board. Why do investigators think the engine failed? That puts the entire flight time at about 24 minutes long. The pilots made an emergency declaration to air traffic control, and then “the airplane did make a safe, single-engine landing, about 20 minutes after the engine failure,” Sumwalt added. “Approximately 4 minutes after takeoff, as the airplane was passing through about 12,500 feet above sea level, at an airspeed of about 280 knots, a loud bang was heard on the cockpit voice recorder, and increased vibrations were recorded from the number-two engine,” Robert Sumwalt, the chairman of the NTSB, said during a media briefing on Monday, February 22. The Boeing 777-200 is a wide-body, two-engine aircraft, and there were 229 passengers and 10 crew members on Flight 328 that day. Glad everyone onboard is safe #9News /c8TNYlugU2- Marc Sallinger FebruWhat happened with United Airlines Flight 328? Flight was on its way to Hawaii from Denver. Some people told me they said prayers and held their loved ones' hands as they looked out the window. While investigations into the event will stretch out months into the future, here’s what we know now about what occurred and what officials’ initial thoughts are.Ī passenger on United 328 took this video of flames shooting out from the engine. ![]() ![]() The aircraft touched down safely back at the same airport, and no one was hurt. ![]() Just minutes after departure, its number-two engine-the one on the right side-suffered a major failure.ĭramatic footage of the heavily damaged and flaming engine circulated on Twitter, as did images of engine pieces that landed in Broomfield, Colorado. On Saturday, February 20, a United Airlines flight lifted off from Denver International Airport, bound for Hawaii. The aircraft, seen here with the engine damage visible on February 22, is a Boeing 777-200. ![]()
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