UA's insurance company is going to be paying out.United Airlines is going to be paying out a lot of money. Then they will go after P&W.
I've seen this. Was flying somewhere from Indy. Looking out window at wing and I can see a fairly large hole (probably 18 inch in diameter.) through which I can see the ground.
Lol that’s actually pretty accurate. Good friend is a pilot, called one day and said they had to emergency land, they hit a bird with the engine. He sent a pic and the blades in the engine were bent and jagged. I asked what they did to fix them, said the guy straightened them and filed the edges back
Commonly known "Speed Tape".
We would get bird stikes on A-10s that would damage the leading edge of the fan blades. We would borescope the compressor, to make sure there was no damage to the core. Then we would pull the damaged fan blades and blend out the damage with swiss files. If we had to replace fan blades, they would be swapped out in pairs, 180 degrees out. They were matched up by weight. If we had to replace more than two pair, we had to do a vibe run to check for excessive vibration. The blades were made of titanium so they were super light yet very strong.Lol that’s actually pretty accurate. Good friend is a pilot, called one day and said they had to emergency land, they hit a bird with the engine. He sent a pic and the blades in the engine were bent and jagged. I asked what they did to fix them, said the guy straightened them and filed the edges back
smooth
"That will buff out" is all purpose black humor among MXLol that’s actually pretty accurate. Good friend is a pilot, called one day and said they had to emergency land, they hit a bird with the engine. He sent a pic and the blades in the engine were bent and jagged. I asked what they did to fix them, said the guy straightened them and filed the edges back
smooth
To be honest, "speed tape" and "muffler bandage" always looked like the same product. Just a bigger roll.On race cars we’ve always called it “200 mph tape”, so “500 mph tape” must be something different and even better
I've seen a couple compressor stalls on the trim pad and test cell. Each time, we usually borescoped the engine and fixed the cause of the stall, (fuel control, compressor inlet temp sensor, guide vane actuator). Only once did I see a compressor get damaged. There was no other damage to the aircraft.It's possible a fan blade failure started this, but those are much more likely to take the cold path and not compromise the core. It is just my opinion, but I would bet the root cause of this will turn out to be a compressor stall (or a series of them) at high power. Think of a massive backfire in the engine, analogous to what happens in a supercharger explosion in a drag racer. Most uncontained failures would shred the fan and the core and there would be more shrapnel damage, this looks more like it just blew the panels off. The inlet cowling came down essentially in one piece
Upon further review, I believe you are likely correct. I had not ever seen fan failure without a great deal more shrapnel damage, but my experience was with much lower bypass ratio enginesI've seen a couple compressor stalls on the trim pad and test cell. Each time, we usually borescoped the engine and fixed the cause of the stall, (fuel control, compressor inlet temp sensor, guide vane actuator). Only once did I see a compressor get damaged. There was no other damage to the aircraft.
The picture above shows the aftermath of one fan blade breaking off at mid chord and another at the root. The blades did not penetrate the containment ring. But the instant unbalance caused the entire front frame to flex and cause the seperation of the inlet ring, outer nacelle panels and cowling. Aerodynamic loading greatly enhances the shedding of these structural components. Massive vibration would cause further damage.
The NTSB note that the inlet and cowling separated from the nacelle and that initial examination of the Pratt & Whitney PW4077 engine revealed:The initial examination of the airplane indicated most of the damage was confined to the number 2 engine; the airplane sustained minor damage. The examination and documentation of the airplane is ongoing.