Rolls-Royce orders inspection of 'worn' Airbus engines

British aerospace giant Rolls-Royce on Tuesday said it had discovered "wear" on some of its Trent engines used in Airbus A350 jets, triggering inspections of similar-aged motors as a precaution. Having recently suffered from expensive repairs to its Trent 1000 engines servicing Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, Rolls said it "identified indications of wear in the intermediate pressure compressor (IPC) of a small number of engines that have been in service for four to five years and are approaching their first overhaul". It added in a statement: "None of these engines have experienced any abnormal in-flight operation, however we are inspecting all other Trent XWB-84 engines of a similar service life as a precaution". Rolls identified "just over 100 Trent XWB-84s" that had been in service over the four-five year period. "We have inspected the majority of them and found signs of wear on an average of only one or two IPC blades in a minority of those inspected. We have also taken the precaution of sampling a number of younger Trent XWB-84 engines and have found no unexpected wear." <br/>