United Airlines Flight 328: Plane Engine That Caught Fire Had Similar Blowouts, Why Do They Keep Exploding?

By Joshua Summers First Posted: Feb 22, 2021 08:41 PM EST

(Photo : Mario Tama)
A United Airlines plane takes off above American Airlines planes on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on October 1, 2020 in Los Angeles, California.

The bursting of an airplane engine, just like the United Airlines Flight 328, is not the first time in history, leaving questions as to why these anomalies keep on happening. Fortunately, the incident that led the recent flight of United Airlines to Denver's emergency land did not involve any casualties.

NBC News reports that according to experts, there at least two other similar blowouts on at least two different flights. According to USA Today, the engine failure of the United Airlines flight made parts of the aircraft rain over the suburbs of Denver, leaving the travelers shaken and formulating questions about the industry's go-to wide-body jets for Hawaii and Europe flights.

Similar Incidents

NBC News references the interview of aviation expert Greg Feith with NBC's "Today" show, saying that Denver's incident was not the first time to happen.

Yahoo! News shares that three years ago, a fan blade broke on one of the PW4000 engines that are supplying power to the United Airlines Boeing 777-200 plane while flying over the Pacific Ocean and a flight from San Francisco to Honolulu. In December, they also note that two fan blades of the same type and kind of engine broke on a Japan Airline Boeing 777-200 that has a flight from Naha to Tokyo. Yahoo! News notes that just like the Denver incident, the pilots in charge of similar flights in the recent incident have safely landed and reported no casualties.

While the federal investigators inspect the PW400 engines on the airplanes, NBC News reports that the incident went viral on social media. Boeing has grounded all of its model 777-200 airplanes globally. They add that these planes are only utilized by United Airlines in the United States and airlines from Japan and South Korea.

Yahoo! News notes the words of Federal Aviation Administration's administrator Steve Dickenson saying that the inspections are focused on the hollow fan blades, which are unique to this engine model and are solely used by Boeing 777 airplanes.

In an interview with NBC News, former National Transportation Safety Board chairman Jim Hall said that they lack efficient inspection process, and the embarrassment of the FAA and Pratt&Whitney, led to the taking out of the planes. They add that the United Airline Flight 328 is now under investigation alongside the team's dispatch from Pratt&Whitney to work with the investigators.

Why do they explode?

According to Intelligencer, in the three mentioned cases of an aircraft emergency, the aircraft are among the oldest in the worldwide 777 fleets, delivered in the first two years after the model was introduced in 1995. They add that the case of exploding 777 engines is not sudden because it is known that engines age and their parts experience stress over and over, which can lead to microscopic cracks which grow over time. They add that the FAA mandates periodic inspection to avoid fractures that can destroy and endanger an aircraft.

Incidents like what happened to United Airlines Flight 328 are a wake-up call to all the aircraft proponents to ensure their passengers. Safety and security are always needed for every activity an individual will be taking part in.