FAA posts directive for fixes to Pratt’s Airbus A320 engines
US aviation regulators outlined inspections needed for potentially faulty parts on some of Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan engines that power Airbus’s best-selling A320neo model. The directive affects 20 engines on US-registered aircraft, according to a regulatory filing by the FAA on Friday. The impact on the worldwide fleet will be larger as other nations adopt the FAA’s requirements. Pratt, a unit of aerospace giant RTX Corp., said in July that 1,200 GTF engines must be removed and inspected over the next 12 months after the company discovered contamination in the powdered metal used to manufacture high-pressure turbine discs could shorten their life span. The company has said that the first 200 turbines will need accelerated removals by mid-September. Inspections of first- and second-stage high-pressure turbine discs will cost $8,500 each, according to the FAA’s airworthiness directive. Replacing any faulty discs will cost operators about $171,000 apiece. The costs could be substantial. Based on the FAA estimates, the total cost across the global fleet could exceed $400m if all 1,200 engines that need inspection were found to have flawed first and second-stage discs. The FAA cautioned that it could not determine how many will actually need replacement.<br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-08-21/general/faa-posts-directive-for-fixes-to-pratt2019s-airbus-a320-engines
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FAA posts directive for fixes to Pratt’s Airbus A320 engines
US aviation regulators outlined inspections needed for potentially faulty parts on some of Pratt & Whitney’s geared turbofan engines that power Airbus’s best-selling A320neo model. The directive affects 20 engines on US-registered aircraft, according to a regulatory filing by the FAA on Friday. The impact on the worldwide fleet will be larger as other nations adopt the FAA’s requirements. Pratt, a unit of aerospace giant RTX Corp., said in July that 1,200 GTF engines must be removed and inspected over the next 12 months after the company discovered contamination in the powdered metal used to manufacture high-pressure turbine discs could shorten their life span. The company has said that the first 200 turbines will need accelerated removals by mid-September. Inspections of first- and second-stage high-pressure turbine discs will cost $8,500 each, according to the FAA’s airworthiness directive. Replacing any faulty discs will cost operators about $171,000 apiece. The costs could be substantial. Based on the FAA estimates, the total cost across the global fleet could exceed $400m if all 1,200 engines that need inspection were found to have flawed first and second-stage discs. The FAA cautioned that it could not determine how many will actually need replacement.<br/>
