LONDON — The never-ending drama from the 787 Dreamliner seems to have taken another turn for the worse today after British carriers Virgin Atlantic and British Airways have been told to make sure that their flight paths always keep their planes within one hour of an airport. This announcement today has come after only a few months ago when Air New Zealand and Virgin Atlantic were two of many airlines had to report excessive corrosion in their Dreamliner engines.

READ MORE: Rolls-Royce Announces Further Issues with Trent 1000s

This issue, however, is not new. The first report of the excessive wear in the engines was made by ANA All Nippon Airways back in 2016 when they found that their engines had corroded turbine blades, since then there have been multiple reports of issues with the engines which once saw an Air New Zealand 787 have to turn back after the pilots reported issues with the engine and had to shut it down mid-flight, the engines in question are the Trent 100 engines which are also used to power some 787-9 aircraft.

Boeing has been extensively investigating the engines with Rolls Royce ever since the first reports of the issue and they had already in 2016 created a replacement program with ANA in which Rolls Royce covered the costs. On Friday Rolls Royce said they were working to repair the engines and problem but said that the issue may not be fully fixed until 2022.

So what does this mean? Well, it means that flight plans will need to be changed. Virgin Atlantic will now need to change their Transatlantic routes which could see flight times to some of their destinations like Boston increase from 7 hours 15 minutes up to 8 hours.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Atlantic said: “All airlines flying twin-engine aircraft have a requirement to be within 60 minutes of a diversion airfield. This can be varied under regulation depending on route requirements and regulatory approvals. There’s currently an industry-wide shortage of Trent 1000 engines, which is impacting airlines around the world. In order to avoid disrupting our customers, we have added additional aircraft to our fleet, including four A330-200s. We always fully comply with all safety requirements and don’t anticipate any impact to our services.”

READ MORE: Mandatory Inspection On All Boeing 737 Engines Following Southwest Incident

British Airways have said however that they are unlikely to be affected massively by this decision as they said that many of their 787-9 Dreamliners are allowed to fly within 3 hours of the nearest airport while others can go no further than 140 minutes away from a runway.

In a statement from a spokesman for BA said: “The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and we would never operate an aircraft if it was unsafe to do so. Like other airlines around the world, we are carrying out detailed precautionary inspections on Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines on some of our Boeing 787-9s to ensure we meet all the relevant regulatory requirements. Our Flight Planning teams have enormous experience in managing flight paths on our global network every day and always ensure we meet the relevant safety regulations.”

READ MORE: JetBlue Selects Pratt & Whitney Geared Turbofan™ (GTF) Engines to Power Its Airbus A320neo Family Aircraft

It would appear that the engine issues have an end in sight but only time will tell how these problems will continue to affect not only the airlines that use them but Boeing and Rolls Royce alike, with airlines having to spend more money on a plane that was supposed to save them money. While we wait to see how these changes will be brought in it will be interesting to see if the changes affect the sales or for now the current orders of the 787-9 Dreamliners until the engine issues are fixed. </s> British Airways and Virgin planes have been warned to stay within an hour of an airport over safety fears for their Rolls-Royce engines.

Passengers could face increased flight times after authorities ordered planes to be within an hour of airports following the discovery that some of the the £7.4m ($10m) Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner jet engines suffered from cracking and corrosion.

Concerns over potential wear and tear problems on the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines, used to power some Boeing 787-9 planes, were first discovered two years go when the manufacture announced it was carrying out extra inspections.

The "package C" engine was first grounded by Japanese airline ANA in 2016 when it found engines had corroded turbine blades. An Air New Zealand 787 had to return to Auckland airport after the pilots noticed problems and shut down an engine.

While the inspections are carried out on the engines, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) - the civil aviation watchdog in America - has ordered some 787 planes must fly within an hour of an airport in case of an emergency.

But BA said it did not expect to see disruption to flights as only a small number of their 787-9 planes that used this type of engine were actually affected by the order. </s> British Airways and Virgin passengers could face increased flight times after authorities ordered some planes to be within an hour of airports.

Concerns over potential wear and tear problems on engines - that are only used on some planes - have seen an small number grounded and others facing longer flight routes.

The problems mean that some transatlantic flights could face an increased flying time of up to an hour - extending journey times to eight hours to New York.

The issue surrounds Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 package C engines, used to power some Boeing 787-9 planes, that are being felt by airlines across the world.

Earlier this month, the manufacturer announced it was carrying out extra inspections on the engines about which concerns were first raised over two years ago.

It has seen some planes grounded and caused the airlines to switch flight routes while precautionary inspections take place.

While the inspections are carried out, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an order which means some 787 planes must fly within an hour of an airport in the case of an emergency.

Many BA 787-9s are allowed to fly within 180 minutes of the nearest airport, while others must pass within 140 minutes of touchdown.

However, others must fly just 60 minutes from touchdown.

But British Airways and Virgin told Mirror Online they did not expect any disruption to flight operations.

British Airways operates its 17 Dreamliner planes on popular routes such as Los Angeles, Kuala Lumpur, Beijing, Abu Dhabi and Moscow.

The aircrafts are capable of carrying up to 344 passengers.

A British Airways spokeswoman said: "The safety of our customers and crew is always our top priority and we would never operate an aircraft if it was unsafe to do so.

"Like other airlines around the world, we are carrying out detailed precautionary inspections on Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines on some of our Boeing 787-9s to ensure we meet all the relevant regulatory requirements.

"Our Flight Operations and Flight Planning teams have enormous experience in managing flight paths on our global network every day.

"Every flight plan we create meets all of the relevant safety regulations, which we always adhere to."

Virgin, which also has 17 Dreamliners, has added an additional number of Airbus aircraft to its fleet to limit the impact.

A Virgin spokeswoman said: "We have absolute confidence in our fleet of Boeing 787 aircraft and we don't anticipate any impact on flying schedule.

"There is an industry wide shortage of Trent 1000 engines, and we have taken a number of steps to ensure this has no impact on our customers journeys - including adding additional aircraft to our fleet."

Problems with the Trent 1000 engine were first raised two years ago, when Japanese airline ANA grounded planes to replace engines which had corroded turbine blades.

Yesterday, Rolls-Royce said it was working quickly to repair problems with some of the engines which have seen plane grounded.

The company said the problems will be fully resolved by 2022, though chief executive Warren East added he hoped for a faster resolution.

He told shareholders: "Based on where we are at the moment, we would expect to remove the aircraft on the ground situation much, much faster than 2022.”

According to Reuters, there are 380 package C engines currently in service with airlines across the world including BA and Virgin. </s> The Federal Aviation Administration on Friday ordered airlines to inspect the fan blades of some engines of the same type that exploded on a Southwest Airlines flight earlier this week. One passenger was killed after she was partially sucked through a window that blew open in the blast when a fan blade on one of the Boeing 737's engines broke loose when the plane was above 30,000 feet.

It was the first passenger death on a U.S. airline since 2009 and the first ever passenger fatality due to an accident or incident in Southwest's history.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the "emergency" order was based on a service bulletin, also issued Friday from the engine's manufacturer, CFM International, calling for more stringent testing of the CFM56-7B engine, and an investigation into the deadly engine failure on Southwest Flight 1380, the airline regulator said.

Under the FAA's order some engines will have to be inspected within 20 days.

The engine type is one of the most commonly used around the world. Friday's order will affect some 352 engines in the U.S. and 681 worldwide.

CFM International, a joint venture of General Electric and France's Safran Aircraft Engines, said engine inspectors can examine the engine while it is still on the wing using an ultrasonic probe. Tiny cracks in the engine's fan blades may not be visible to the naked eye. That test takes about four hours per engine, CFM said.

CFM also recommended that engines with about 20,000 cycles, which it estimates applies to 2,500 engines.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) that requires operators to inspect fan blades on certain CFM56-7B engines within 20 days. The directive is based on a CFM International Service Bulletin issued today and on information gathered from the investigation of Tuesday's Southwest Airlines engine failure. The inspection requirement applies to CFM56-7B engines. Specifically, engines with more than 30,000 total cycles from new must undergo inspections within 20 days. The EAD becomes effective upon publication. The engine manufacturer estimates today's corrective action affects 352 engines in the U.S. and 681 engines worldwide.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates. </s> The notification comes from the FAA and will affect roughly 352 engines administered by U.S. operators.

Following the fatal engine failure that led to the mid-air accident of Southwest Flight 1380 earlier this week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has demanded a massive engine inspection, CNBC reports.

The FAA has issued an Emergency Airworthiness Directive (EAD) on Friday, April 20, regarding CFM56-7B engines — the same engine type on the Boeing 737 airplane involved in the Southwest accident on Tuesday, April 17.

According to the directive, airline operators are required to perform an inspection of the CFM56-7B engine fan blades, which in the case of Flight 1380, exploded at 32,000 feet, killing one passenger and forcing the Southwest Airlines airplane to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia.

“We are issuing this [airworthiness directive] because we evaluated all the relevant information and determined the unsafe condition described previously is likely to exist or develop in other products of the same type design,” notified the FAA.

The EAD applies to certain CFM56-7B engines, specifically those that have been used for more than 30,000 total cycles. A cycle is a unit measure for airplane use and runs from take-off to shut down after landing, CNBC notes.

Furthermore, the directive states that operators must complete this verification within 20 days.

The EAD comes after the CFM56-7B engine manufacturer, CFM International, released a service bulletin calling for more rigid testing of this type of engine, the FAA explained.

The airline regulator also mentioned that data from the investigation on Boeing 737 engine failure factored into Friday’s emergency directive.

The CFM bulletin, also issued on Friday, recommends that the CFM56-7B fan blades be examined with an ultrasonic probe — a procedure that lasts for four hours per each of the airplanes’ engines and which can be performed without removing the engines from the aircrafts’ wings.

The reason why CFM is suggesting that operators conduct the CFM56-7B engine verifications via ultrasonic probe is that the fan blades might hide tiny cracks, which would not be detected with the naked eye.

According to CFM estimates, the inspection order will affect some 352 engines in the U.S. and 681 worldwide, specified the FAA.

In addition, the engine manufacturer also recommends that operators verify the CFM56-7B engines with about 20,000 cycles as well. This will be applicable to an estimated 2,500 engines, states CFM.

The CFM56-7B engine is one of the most widely used airplane engines worldwide. Tuesday’s tragic failure of the popular engine model resulted in the first passenger fatality on a U.S. airline in the last nine years and the first accident-related passenger death ever recorded in the history of Southwest Airlines. </s> • Europe orders emergency inspections of the type of engine that malfunctioned on a Southwest Airlines flight this week.
• Planes with the CFM56-7B engine must be inspected in the next 20 days if the engine has been in service for around 20 years.
• Some 352 engines in the US and 681 engines worldwide are eligible for emergency inspections.

The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has joined US authorities in ordering an emergency inspection of the type of engine that malfunctioned on a Southwest Airlines flight this week to deadly effect.

In a statement on Saturday, EASA ordered investigations of CFM56-7B enginesafter a fan blade on a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-700 snapped off mid-flight, spraying shrapnel that punctured the aircraft's fuselage causing depressurization. Passenger Jennifer Riordan was killed.

It is an expansion of a previous EASA directive in 2016, issued for inspections on the same engine. Engines that contain fan blades that have completed more than 30,000 "cycles," or have been in service for around 20 years, must be inspected in the next 20 days, according to EASA.

Similar tests are being carried out in the US. America's Federal Aviation Administration said it expects 352 engines in the US and 681 engines worldwide to be eligible for emergency inspections.

The CFM56-7B debuted in 1997 and currently powers more than 6,700 planes in the world. It is the product of a 40-year-old joint venture between GE Aviation and France's Safran Aircraft Engines called CFM International.

Several major airline officials said the order will primarily impact airlines with higher utilisation of aircraft covering shorter routes like Southwest, according to Reuters. </s> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jet engine manufacturer CFM International Inc said on Thursday airlines have inspected more than half of nearly 700 CFM engines subject to an emergency order issued late Friday by U.S. and European regulators.

The inspections cover engines like the one involved in a fatal Southwest Airlines Co (LUV.N) engine blowout last week. The directives for inspections by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Safety Agency suggested rising concerns about CFM56-7B engines, built by the joint venture of General Electric Co (GE.N) and France’s Safran SA (SAF.PA). The same type of engine had a similar failure in 2016.

Ultrasonic inspections on fan blades that have been used in more than 30,000 cycles, or in service for about 20 years, will be required by May 10, the agencies said. A cycle includes one take-off and landing — and 150 had already been inspected prior to Friday’s order.

Cincinnati, Ohio-based CFM International said airline operators have completed more than 60 percent of mandated ultrasonic inspections on CFM56-7B engines with more than 30,000 cycles.

As soon as next week, the FAA was expected to finalize a separate directive on CFM56-7B engines it had proposed in August covering a different set of engines, two officials briefed on the matter said.

The engine explosion on Southwest Airlines flight 1380 in Pennsylvania was caused by a fan blade that broke off, the FAA said. The blast shattered a window, killing a passenger, the first U.S. passenger airline fatality since 2009.

The CFM56-7B engine powers the Boeing Next-Generation 737. Approximately 14,000 CFM56-7B engines are operated by 60 companies worldwide.

CFM said GE and Safran Aircraft Engines are supporting airlines with a team of 500 experts worldwide to complete the inspections quickly and help to minimize operational disruption. Southwest has said it is cancelling some flights as a result of inspections.

CFM also recommends completing inspections of fan blades with more than 20,000 cycles by the end of August, and inspections to all other fan blades by the time they reach 20,000 cycles. After first inspection, operators are recommended to repeat the inspection every 3,000 cycles, typically about two years in airline service. Those inspections for fan blades with 20,000 cycles will affect an additional 2,500 engines by August.

The engine that blew apart on last week’s Southwest flight would have been affected by Friday’s inspection order, since the company said it had 40,000 cycles. </s> Investigators were scouring Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport on Saturday after an engine caught fire on an American Airlines plane attempting to take off on Friday, as a source said a detached engine part had hit a nearby building, something the design should have prevented.

No serious injuries were reported in the incident, which crippled a Boeing 767 with 161 passengers and nine crew members aboard as it was departing for Miami and briefly closed all O’Hare’s runways.

The failure was so intense that a disk from the engine hit a building roof, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Jet engines are designed to keep parts within the outer cover as escaped shrapnel can tear through the cabin or rupture fuel tanks in the wings. Such “uncontained” failures therefore are extremely rare and National Transportation Safety Board officials were looking for clues as to whether the fault lay with the engine, with maintenance or a freak event such as debris on the runway entering the engine.

The General Electric engine that powered the plane was a workhorse model known as the CF6 introduced decades ago, GE spokesman Rick Kennedy told Reuters on Saturday. The American Airlines plane engine dates from the 1980s or 1990s, and had been serviced by the airline, he said.

American on Saturday declined to provide details about the aircraft, engine or maintenance, referring questions to the NTSB. The NTSB said it planned to release more details at a news conference later on Saturday at O’Hare.

Officials from GE Aviation, Boeing and American Airlines were on the scene at O’Hare assisting in the investigation, GE’s Kennedy said.

The CF6 was introduced in the 1970s and more than 4,000 are currently in service on seven different wide-body jetliner models, including the Boeing 747 and 767, and Airbus A300 and A330, according to GE. The engine has racked up more than 400 million flight hours and has a record of “industry-leading levels of reliability,” Kennedy said.

The O’Hare incident marks the third uncontained GE engine failure in little over a year, following a British Airways Boeing 777 in September 2015 and a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 in August. Both aircraft used different engines, the GE90 and CMF56, made by a joint venture of GE and Safran of France.

In a full-power ground test situation in 2006, an American Airlines 767 with GE CF6 engines suffered an uncontained failure, according to a summary produced by the Aviation Safety Network, a service of the Flight Safety Foundation, an international nonprofit based in Alexandria, Virginia.

The “rupture of the high pressure turbine stage 1 disk” was traced partly to inadequate GE design of the disk and poor FAA oversight of inspections, according to the summary.

The high pressure turbine of the CF6-80A engine used on the 767 has been cited in six regulatory actions by the Federal Aviation Authority since 1986, FAA records show. The most recent, in 2009, required airlines to remove an engine rotor within 30 days and reduced the allowed lifespan of an engine disk, conditions that could lead to cracks and uncontained engine failure, according to FAA records. </s> (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said it will order inspections of at least 220 aircraft engines as investigators are focusing on a broken fan blade in an engine that exploded Tuesday on a Southwest Aiirlines flight, killing a passenger.

The regulator said late on Wednesday it plans to finalize the air-worthiness directive within the next two weeks.

The order, which it initially proposed in August following an engine failure in 2016 on another Southwest Airlines Co flight, will require ultrasonic inspection within the next six months of fan blades on all CFM56-7B engines that have accrued a certain number of takeoffs, while others will need inspections within 18 months.

Airlines said that because fan blades may have been repaired and moved to other engines, the order would affect far more than 220 of the CFM56-7Bs, which are made by a partnership of France’s Safran and General Electric.

An FAA official acknowledged the total number covered may be higher. Some critics have questioned why the FAA did not move faster, when European regulators issued an April 2 directive ordering similar CFM56-7B inspections within nine months.

The CFM56 engine on Southwest flight 1380 blew apart over Pennsylvania on Tuesday, about 20 minutes after the Dallas-bound flight left New York’s LaGuardia Airport with 149 people on board. The explosion sent shrapnel ripping into the fuselage of the Boeing 737-700 plane and shattered a window.

Bank executive Jennifer Riordan, 43, was killed when she was partially pulled through the gaping hole as the cabin suffered rapid decompression. Fellow passengers were able to pull her back inside but she died of her injuries.

Videos posted on social media showed passengers grabbing for oxygen masks and screaming as the plane, piloted by Tammie Jo Shults, a former U.S. Navy fighter pilot, prepared for the descent into Philadelphia.

Shults and the first officer in a joint statement declined media interviews. “We all feel we were simply doing our jobs. Our hearts are heavy,” the pair said.

On Wednesday, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chairman Robert Sumwalt said the incident began when one of the engine’s 24 fan blades snapped off from its hub. Investigators found that the blade had suffered metal fatigue at the point of the break.

Sumwalt said he could not yet say if the incident, the first deadly passenger airline accident in the United States since 2009, pointed to a fleet-wide problem in the Boeing 737-700.

Southwest crews were inspecting similar engines the airline had in service, focusing on the 400 to 600 oldest of the CFM56 engines, according to a person with knowledge of the situation.

It was the second time this kind of engine had failed on a Southwest jet in the past two years, prompting airlines around the world to step up inspections.

A NTSB inspection crew was also combing over the Boeing 737-700 for signs of what caused the engine to explode.

Investigators expected to remain on the scene into the weekend but the NTSB did not plan any media update on Thursday. The NTSB investigation could take 12 to 15 months to complete, Sumwalt said.

Sumwalt said the fan blade, after suffering metal fatigue where it attached to the engine hub, has a second fracture about halfway along its length. Pieces of the plane were found in rural Pennsylvania by investigators who tracked them on radar. The metal fatigue would not have been observable by looking at the engine from the outside, Sumwalt said.

The GE-Safran partnership that built the engine said it was sending about 40 technicians to help with Southwest’s inspections. Southwest said it expected to wrap up its inspection of the engines it was targeting in 30 days.

In August 2016, a Southwest flight made a safe emergency landing in Pensacola, Florida, after a fan blade separated from the same type of engine and debris ripped a hole above the left wing. That incident prompted the FAA to propose last year that similar fan blades undergo ultrasonic inspections and be replaced if they failed.
The Federal Aviation Administration of the United States orders Boeing 787 jets using Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines to operate within one hour of an airport at all times following safety concerns with the engines worldwide which culminated in Air New Zealand and Air China grounding their fleets last week.