Safety expert Jeff Guzzetti, formerly with FAA, NTSB and the Office of the Inspector General – Aviation office, a regular contributor to Aviation Maintenance magazine, was interviewed and quoted in a story in the Washington Post about the United Airlines B777 that experienced an engine failure, rained debris on the Denver suburbs but ultimately made a safe return and landing back at the DIA airport.
In the Post story Guzzetti is quoted saying: “There’s a real hazard with engine cowl parts coming off and potentially knocking off the tail, or causing a depressurization, or creating drag when you’re over the ocean and affecting your extended operations,” Guzzetti said.
Guzzetti went on to emphasize: “You should not have large pieces of the engine covering, like the inlet and the fan cowl, fall off the airplane because they become projectiles that can damage the airplane, or people on the ground,” Guzzetti said.
Click here to read the full story.
Be sure to check out Guzzetti’s series on accidents with a maintenance factor in each issue of Aviation Maintenance. See his most recent installment, “‘Fire! Left Engine!’ How Shortcuts to Procedures Led to a Near Disaster” about an engine fire on an MD-82 out of St. Louis, Missouri in 2007, by clicking here.