“Fractured Fan Blades in UAL 777 Engine Incident” – NTSB. By Daisy BARRO

Fire on right engine of B777-200

An investigation by the U.S National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is ongoing to determine the cause of an engine failure incident that occurred on United Airlines flight 328 shortly after takeoff from Denver International Airport on February 20, 2021. The 231 passengers and 10 crew members on board landed safely with no injuries recorded.

According to the NTSB, two fractured fan blades that started a fire on the aircraft’s right engine were partly responsible for the incident. The U.S' Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) immediately carried out an emergency inspection of the blades, while Boeing has called on operators of the B777-200 to ground the planes until further notice.

United Airlines complied with the directive, and grounded the 24 affected aircraft in its fleet. A statement from the airline reads, “We will continue to work closely with regulators to determine any additional steps to expect.”

FAA Administrator Steve Dickson has called on Pratt & Whitney to “immediately step-up” inspections of its PW4000 fan blades.

This is happening not long after a similar occurrence on December 4, 2020, when the No.1 engine on a Japan Airlines 777-200 lost a fan blade shortly after takeoff on a flight from Okinawa, Japan to Tokyo. The country has also grounded all its B777-200 until further notice.