Robert Sumwalt, chairman of the National
Transportation Safety Board, said the agency’s
investigators will examine maintenance records
for the engine and fan blades. He said fan blade
pieces — including one found on a soccer field
in a Denver suburb — was examined in a Pratt &
Whitney laboratory.
Federal Aviation Administration head Stephen
Dickson said inspectors quickly determined
that inspections should be done more
frequently for the type of hollow fan blades in
certain Pratt & Whitney engines that are used
on some Boeing 777s.
As a result, 69 planes and another 59 in storage
were grounded in the U.S., Japan and South
Korea, the only countries with planes using
this particular engine. United, the only U.S.
carrier with affected planes, said it grounded 24
Boeing 777s and 28 others will remain parked.
Japanese regulators ordered Japan Airlines and
All Nippon Airways to ground 32 planes, and
South Korea’s Korean Air and Asiana Airlines
said they will ground their Boeing 777s.