Trent 1000 blade issue causing 787-9 headaches

A number of 787-9 aircraft have been grounded, some for an extended period, due to durability issues with the blades of their Trent 1000 engines. The Trent 1000 engines with the Package C upgrade are seeing blades in the intermediate turbine, and compressor wear out much sooner than they should.

Initial scrutiny of the blades came about a year and a half ago, when three Scoot 787 engine shutdown events were found to have been caused by the IPT blades failing. Later Air New Zealand was forced to ground their aircraft due to the same problem. It's reported that pretty much all of the 787-9 operators are seeing excessive wear on their engines.

www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: Zaphod58


Damn it I'm about 90% certain I'm going to the states with Norwegian not only because of the price but the chance to fly on a 787 it's the only airliner I haven't been on yet

seems odd that this is just starting to come up now considering how much money went into the development of that engine. either way i cant imagine RR is too happy. i dont really understand the cause of the headaches and such though unless some odd pressure waves are making it through the power takeoff.
norwegian air atleast has brand new trent 1000's that were delivered last nov

a reply to: TheScale

It's everyone. I didn't follow development of the Trent very closely, but if they did it anything like other engines, they introduce performance improvement packages, that include things like new blades. They might have gotten a bad run of blades, or the new blades just aren't handling the life cycle as well as older ones are.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: TheScale

It's everyone. I didn't follow development of the Trent very closely, but if they did it anything like other engines, they introduce performance improvement packages, that include things like new blades. They might have gotten a bad run of blades, or the new blades just aren't handling the life cycle as well as older ones are.

yeah who knows these days. they are pushing material science and the limits with those blades inside jets.

well i dug abit trying to learn some things and nippon airways failures were due to sulfidation corrosion cracking. this could be due to airlines using cheap dirty fuel/lubricants thats rife with hydrogen sulfides

a reply to: TheScale
Its not odd, these things sometimes take a while to manifest themselves. Twelve to eighteen months would be about right for excessive wear to manifest itself. The headache reference is talking about how the 787 has a lower cabin pressure altitude than previous aircraft types so it reduces the symptoms of jet lag such as headaches, that's what the "1800 metres" bit is referring too.

a reply to: thebozeian

Have you worked on any 787s mate?
Also with them having a lower pressure than other planes will that increase the life cycle of the fuselage at all?

a reply to: thebozeian

Actually the headache reference was to the airlines having to replace them with other aircraft because of it.

a reply to: Furryhobnob

That makes sense for the Saudi, and other ME planes, but not for the others. Some don't go anywhere close to conditions like that to cause that kind of damage to the blades.

a reply to: Furryhobnob

Oh, I have no doubt it will get solved. It's a hell of an interesting mystery though. You don't normally see this kind of issue on such a large scale anymore. Please, keep us updated as new information comes in.

Virgin Atlantic confirmed that they are leasing 4 A330-200s this summer, due to a 787 engine shortage.

www.flightglobal.com...

a reply to: Furryhobnob
It would seem that the sands of the Middle East are the bane of engine manufacturers. We have had consistent problems with T900 turbine blades, which you may be aware of due to sand ingestion which then melts and blocks cooling channels. This is leading to cracking and secondary damage to erosion seals. Its certainly justifying the rebuilding of dedicated boroscope crews 2 years after they were stupidly disbanded. All the boro guys say "thanks Dubai and RR, you are helping pay off my mortgage faster with overtime".

a reply to: thebozeian

Come to think of it we've had a lot of red moons over the past few months from saharan sand in the air I wonder if that's affecting engines as well. The sand out there when I visited was a lot different though very fine almost like flour.

Wonder if its due to volcanic ash still in the air.

a reply to: Furryhobnob

It always seems to be the simple things that bite you in the ass. I never would have thought of that. Thanks for the update!