United 328

originally posted by: Zaphod58
Pretty good impact below the wing on the fuselage.

Lucky nothing was thrown into the cabin area!

I remember that DC-10 way back that had the same thing happen, it cut all three hydraulic lines in the tail.

a reply to: 38181

Even in uncontained failures like this, the protections in the engine do a pretty good job of protecting the cabin. The Southwest accident a few years ago was the first one that I can remember that penetrated the cabin in quite a while. It used to be relatively common to hear about passengers killed by engine parts going through the cabin. This damage was most likely a piece of cowling hitting as it went by.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Looking at the pictures you have posted, you would have to say that, in a very weird way, it is a good advert for the safety of modern aircraft.

You look at the damage to the engine and admire the fact that the air crew managed to safely bring the craft down in one piece.

Some videos of the debris falling..pieces falling right in the middle of the road. Bam bam bam, pretty scary

a reply to: Flavian

It's also a testament to what a well trained crew and good CRM can do.

I think people need to understand the scale of the engine unit. I was at the factory in Virginia where they do the assembly and then got to see them up close at EWR when United was customer, you can fit a car into the nacelle, they're huge.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

To put it in perspective, a 737 fuselage is 11 feet 7 inches in internal diameter. A PW4000 is 9 feet 4 inches. The GE engine used on the 777 is 9 feet 2 inches.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I have a similar picture somewhere of a co-worker and myself sitting on the cowling and our feet completely off the ground.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

And the GE9X on the new 777 is pretty significantly bigger.

It seems that I have read somewhere that the P&W blades are made of hollow titanium unlike the GE engines. I had the fortune to drive by the Ge test stands in Pebbles, Ohio several years back. They were testing an engine but I wasn't able to get close enough to see what kind. It puts out a huge amount of steam when it was running.

a reply to: buddah6

Sounds like the water ingestion test.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

And the GE9X on the new 777 is pretty significantly bigger.

I saw two of those this last summer, they were testing them in Moses lake WA. Absolutely huge airplane! The 747 next to it was shorter!

a reply to: 38181

It's a pretty impressive aircraft. Not sure how I feel about the wingtips though.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: 38181

It's a pretty impressive aircraft. Not sure how I feel about the wingtips though.

I’m thinking they are built with similar design like the naval fighter aircraft, but yeah, Fighters have ejection seats if the wing comes off.I’m with you on that.

a reply to: 38181

They have all kinds of warnings and software protections, but I'm not a fan of added complexity and more maintenance.

United 1175, Feb 18, 2018.

FAA AD requiring TAI of all first stage LPC blades on all PW4000 engines.

a reply to: 38181True! I wonder what happens when they shoot chickens through it...raining McNuggets...LOL!