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777 jets still fly despite warning of risk linked to crash at Heathrow
Peter Dominiczak13 Mar 2009
AIR accident investigators have warned that there is a "high probability" that a fault which may have caused the crash landing of a British Airways jet at Heathrow will strike other Boeing 777s.
American investigators The National Transportation Safety Board issued an urgent recommendation calling for a redesign of a Rolls-Royce engine component in the plane, following two engine "rollbacks" - sudden power losses - last year.
A British accident report showed how a build-up of ice on the fuel/oil heat exchanger (FOHE) could have caused the incident at Heathrow on 17 January last year, which resulted in one serious injury among the 136 passengers and 16 crew on board.
The BA flight from Beijing just cleared a perimeter fence at Heathrow before crash landing short of the runway.
The plane's captain, Peter Burkill, and co-pilot, John Coward, were hailed as heroes for their skilful handling of the aircraft.
A second incident involving a Boeing 777 occurred 10 months later when a Delta Air Lines plane experienced a single engine rollback while cruising over Montana en route to Atlanta.
In both cases, a build-up of ice on the FOHE restricted the flow of fuel to the engine.
As a result, the NTSB has called for a redesign of the FOHE that would eliminate the potential of ice build-up.
Rolls-Royce has said that a new version of the component was already under way.
It is estimated that it will be ready to be fitted within 12 months.
But until then, all Boeings 777s will have to operate with the suspected fault. There are currently 220 Boeing 777s in operation, 15 owned by British Airways.
Mark Rosenker, acting chairman of the NTSB, said: "With two of these rollback events occurring within a year, we believe that there is a high probability of something happening again."
Meanwhile, the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch has asked aviation regulators to look at solutions to the type of ice formation that affected the plane involved in the Heathrow incident.
More widespread use of a particular anti-icing fuel additive "has many drawbacks", the AAIB said in a second interim report into the accident at Heathrow.
Its tests showed that the airframe fuel system was capable of accumulating ice in sufficient quantity that, if it were to be released, could be capable of causing a restriction in the FOHE.
The AAIB said further research was needed into the fuel system ice accumulation phenomenon and that this was "a major scientific challenge, possibly taking several years to complete".
The AAIB - in line with their American counterparts - also directed Boeing and engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce to devise measures to stop ice blocking.
Reader views (4)
Why can Rolls Royce not use the same component that is used in the GE Engined 777s? They have not apparently suffered from the same problem.
- Simon Wells, BRENTWOOD ENGLAND, 13/03/2009 17:19
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Surely, if the NTSB found that there is a "High Probability" that a similar incident will strike other Boeing 777's, the whole fleet should be grounded till the fault in the heat exchanger is corrected or it is replaced by a new design?.
- Mike, Ealing, London, UK, 13/03/2009 15:48
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Quote: Rolls-Royce has said that a new version of the component was already under way.
It is estimated that it will be ready to be fitted within 12 months
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Well that is good news.
Only twelve months left; hoping you will land safely.
Personally; I will walk.
- Mickyinlondon, london, 13/03/2009 14:54
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I don't know what to make of this story because we still do not know the answer to why this aircraft crashed the way it did.
The words used in the report were,
COULD BE, MAY HAVE, COULD HAVE, HIGH PROBABILITY, MIGHT HAVE.
We the travelling public need to know WAS IT Ice that caused the problem to the oil/heat exchanger on the aircraft or not, facts not waffle , CLEAR FACTS, is what we need fact.
- John ,, Scarborough, N. YKS, U.K., 13/03/2009 14:25
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