Wed, Feb 21, 2007
Says Engine Marking Procedure Led To Fan Disk Failure
Less than one month after a Mesa
Airlines regional airliner suffered an inflight uncontained fan
disk failure in one of its engines, the FAA has issued an emergency
Airworthiness Directive requiring operators of the type to perform
inspections on their engines.
As Aero-News reported, the
CRJ-200 experienced failure of its number one engine January 25,
approximately 70 nm from Denver International Airport, while
climbing through 24,000 feet. The failure took out the forward
engine cowling, but the aircraft was otherwise unscathed. The
flight returned uneventfully to Denver and none of the 55 persons
aboard was injured.
In its Airworthiness Directive, the FAA states an inspection of
the GE CF34-3B1 engine showed the front section of the engine
failed, resulting in the fan, forward cowlings, and fan reverser
departing from the engine. A subsequent inspection of the recovered
segments of the fan disk, found an electrical arc-out defect at the
fracture origin site.
The FAA adds the fan disk was marked using the electro-chemical
etchmarking (ECM) procedure during engine assembly. If the ECM
procedure is performed incorrectly, an arc-out defect can occur.
This arc-out defect, caused during part marking, resulted in the
uncontained failure.
Operators of affected aircraft may refer to GE Alert Service
Bulletin (ASB) No. CF34-BJ S/B 72-A0213, dated February 15, 2007,
and GE ASB No. CF34-AL S/B 72-A0232, dated February 15, 2007 for
procedures for visual and tactile inspection of certain areas of
certain serial number (SN) fan disks, to determine if those fan
disks are similarly affected.
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