IndiGo mid-air shocker after 22nd engine snag in 2 yrs
Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com
23.01.2020
An IndiGo A320 Neo flying from Mumbai to Hyderabad early on Thursday with 95 passengers and the crew on board experienced severe vibrations and a loud bang at 23,000ft before one of the Pratt & Whitney engines stalled, forcing the pilots to return to Mumbai and make an emergency landing on a single engine. This was the 22nd snag in two years involving P&W engines on IndiGo Neos, sources said.
A spokesperson for the airline said flight 6E-5384 had “an air turn back to Mumbai” after the pilots “observed an engine caution message” less than an hour after taking off at 12.43am. “The pilots followed standard operating procedure and the aircraft returned safely to Mumbai at 1.39am. All passengers were accommodated on another flight to Hyderabad,” the official said.
In the past few days, airlines flying A320 Neos have reported a spurt in P&W engine snags.
IndiGo needs to replace about 137 unmodified P&W engines
While twin-engined planes can land safely on one engine, there is concern over the likelihood of snags recurring till all unmodified P&W engines are replaced with modified ones. The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) recently gave IndiGo time until May 31— the original deadline was January 31 — to replace unmodified P&W engines on all its Neos.
Besides IndiGo, Neos owned by GoAir run on P&W engines. Airline representatives and officials of the civil aviation regulator said all possible steps were being taken to ensure passenger safety till the transition to modified engines was completed.
“The DGCA has insisted, and ensured, that no A320 Neo flies with two unmodified engines. The Neos in India — 106 with IndiGo and 41with GoAir — have at least one modified engine each. An unmodified P&W engine may stall inflight, but the modified one will ensure the aircraft lands safely,” a source said.
IndiGo needs to replace about 137 unmodified P&W engines on the A320/321 Neos in its fleet. This means that of the 106 Neos IndiGo currently has, about 70 require engine replacement.
“There are around 560-plus Neos belonging to 36 airlines that operate with P&W-1100G engines. Globally, these aircraft have logged over 20 lakh hours and over 10 lakh cycles (flights). New product and design are associated with issues which get manifested in-service. There have been issues with low-pressure turbine stage 3 of Pratt engines. Pratt has identified the root cause and developed a fix with modified low-pressure turbine blades made of Inconel. This fix has been implemented since May 2019. All new engines and spare engines currently being delivered are with modified LPT.”
Besides the existing Neos, IndiGo has over 650 aircraft on order.
CRASH-LANDING: Security personnel stand beside an aircraft used by the NCC which made an emergency landing on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway in Ghaziabad following engine failure on Thursday
Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com
23.01.2020
An IndiGo A320 Neo flying from Mumbai to Hyderabad early on Thursday with 95 passengers and the crew on board experienced severe vibrations and a loud bang at 23,000ft before one of the Pratt & Whitney engines stalled, forcing the pilots to return to Mumbai and make an emergency landing on a single engine. This was the 22nd snag in two years involving P&W engines on IndiGo Neos, sources said.
A spokesperson for the airline said flight 6E-5384 had “an air turn back to Mumbai” after the pilots “observed an engine caution message” less than an hour after taking off at 12.43am. “The pilots followed standard operating procedure and the aircraft returned safely to Mumbai at 1.39am. All passengers were accommodated on another flight to Hyderabad,” the official said.
In the past few days, airlines flying A320 Neos have reported a spurt in P&W engine snags.
IndiGo needs to replace about 137 unmodified P&W engines
While twin-engined planes can land safely on one engine, there is concern over the likelihood of snags recurring till all unmodified P&W engines are replaced with modified ones. The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) recently gave IndiGo time until May 31— the original deadline was January 31 — to replace unmodified P&W engines on all its Neos.
Besides IndiGo, Neos owned by GoAir run on P&W engines. Airline representatives and officials of the civil aviation regulator said all possible steps were being taken to ensure passenger safety till the transition to modified engines was completed.
“The DGCA has insisted, and ensured, that no A320 Neo flies with two unmodified engines. The Neos in India — 106 with IndiGo and 41with GoAir — have at least one modified engine each. An unmodified P&W engine may stall inflight, but the modified one will ensure the aircraft lands safely,” a source said.
IndiGo needs to replace about 137 unmodified P&W engines on the A320/321 Neos in its fleet. This means that of the 106 Neos IndiGo currently has, about 70 require engine replacement.
“There are around 560-plus Neos belonging to 36 airlines that operate with P&W-1100G engines. Globally, these aircraft have logged over 20 lakh hours and over 10 lakh cycles (flights). New product and design are associated with issues which get manifested in-service. There have been issues with low-pressure turbine stage 3 of Pratt engines. Pratt has identified the root cause and developed a fix with modified low-pressure turbine blades made of Inconel. This fix has been implemented since May 2019. All new engines and spare engines currently being delivered are with modified LPT.”
Besides the existing Neos, IndiGo has over 650 aircraft on order.
CRASH-LANDING: Security personnel stand beside an aircraft used by the NCC which made an emergency landing on the Eastern Peripheral Expressway in Ghaziabad following engine failure on Thursday
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