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Partners and Programs:

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Podcasts

Welcome to the Foundation’s podcast page. Below you will find interviews with safety experts from around the industry on a range of topics of interest to aviation safety professionals. New podcasts will be added as they are recorded. The views expressed in the podcasts are those of the speakers, and not necessarily those of the Foundation.

If you have a topic that you believe would be of interest to the aviation community, please get in touch with Vice President, Global Programs, Greg Marshall at marshall@flightsafety.org. Interviews can be conducted in-person at our head office or via Skype.

News, Safety Recommendation

NTSB Urges Revised Checklist for Engine Fire Emergencies

Air carriers should be required to develop or revise emergency checklist procedures for dealing with engine fires on the ground to quickly address the fire hazard and evacuate the airplane, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says.

The safety recommendation to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) was one of nine recommendations issued earlier this week as a result of the NTSB’s investigation of an Oct. 28, 2016, uncontained engine failure and subsequent fire in an American Airlines Boeing 767 during its takeoff ground roll at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago.

The flight crew rejected the takeoff and stopped the airplane on the runway. One of the 170 passengers and crewmembers was seriously injured during the subsequent emergency evacuation, and 20 people received minor injuries. The airplane was substantially damaged.

The NTSB said last week that the probable cause of the accident was the failure of the high-pressure turbine (HPT) stage 2 disk, which “severed the main engine fuel feed line and breached the right main wing fuel tank, releasing fuel that resulted in a fire on the right side of the airplane.”

The HPT stage 2 disk failure followed the formation of fatigue cracks resulting from a manufacturing anomaly that probably was not detectable during inspections using the procedures in place at the time, the NTSB said.

Other recommendations to the FAA called for creating an industry group to evaluate current inspection technologies for nickel-alloy applications, requiring subsurface in-service inspection techniques for certain engine parts, and reviewing crew training programs that deal with assessing exits and handling interphone systems.

Recommendations also included a call for Boeing to work with operators on emergency checklist procedures to be used in case of an engine fire on the ground, and for American Airlines to review existing engine fire checklists and make necessary changes.

Photo credit: NTSB

FSF Editorial Staff. February 9, 2018

News, Accident/Incident Investigation

Subsurface Defect Led to Uncontained Failure of American 767 Engine

An undetectable subsurface defect in an engine turbine disk led to the uncontained engine failure that occurred Oct. 28, 2016, as an American Airlines Boeing 767-300 was approaching takeoff speed at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said today. One passenger was seriously injured in the event and the airplane was damaged beyond repair.

American Flight 383 was bound for Miami when the right side, General Electric CF6-80C2 engine failed, sending metal fragments through a fuel tank and wing structure. The flight crew rejected the takeoff as the airliner approached takeoff speed and then stopped the aircraft on the runway. The 161 passengers and nine crewmembers evacuated via emergency slides. “The passenger who was seriously injured sustained those injuries as a result of evacuating the airplane, as directed by a flight attendant, and encountering jet blast from the engine that was still running,” NTSB said.

The NTSB’s report, which was approved Tuesday, details problems with the evacuation, including a lack of communication between the flight deck and the cabin crew, deviation by a flight attendant from emergency evacuation procedures, and the crew’s lack of coordination following the evacuation, NTSB said. In addition, many passengers disregarded preflight instructions and exited the burning aircraft with carry-on luggage.

failed engine turbine disk
Recovered stage 2 high pressure turbine disk pieces.

NTSB determined that the defect in the turbine disk was likely undetectable when the disk was manufactured in 1997. Investigators determined the defect had been propagating microscopic cracks in the disk for as many as 5,700 flight cycles prior to the accident. Although the disk had been inspected in January 2011, the NTSB said the internal cracks were also most likely undetectable at that time because the required inspection methods were unable to identify all subsurface defects.

“Even though there have been significant advances in the safety performance of passenger airplanes over the last few decades, this accident shows that there [are] still improvements that can be made,” said NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt. “Current inspection methods — those that can fail to uncover a defect in a safety-critical component of an airliner — need a closer look.”

NTSB said the final report would be available in several weeks.

Photo credits: NTSB

FSF Editorial Staff. January 30, 2018

News, Accident/Incident Investigation

NTSB Reschedules Probable Cause Meeting on Uncontained Engine Failure

A U.S. National Transportation Safety Board meeting to determine the probable cause of an October 2016 uncontained engine failure involving an American Airlines Boeing 767-300 has been rescheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 30. The meeting originally was scheduled for Jan. 23, but was canceled due to the U.S. government’s three-day shutdown. The government reopened after Congress passed a temporary spending bill that will fund the government through Feb. 8.

American Flight 383, a scheduled flight to Miami, was on its takeoff roll at Chicago O’Hare International Airport on the afternoon of Oct. 28, 2016, when the uncontained engine failure occurred. The flight crew rejected the takeoff and stopped the aircraft on the runway. An emergency evacuation was conducted during which one of the 161 passengers was seriously injured, NTSB said.

The fire that resulted from the engine failure substantially damaged the aircraft.

Photo credit: NTSB

FSF Editorial Staff. January 24, 2018