Boeing urges grounding of over a hundred 777s after mid-air US incident

American aircraft manufacturer Boeing has called for grounding of most of its 777 planes across the world after an engine of a United Airlines passenger aircraft caught fire mid-air and fell apart over a suburban American community.

Boeing warned 128 of its 777 should be taken out of service until the US Federal Aviation Authority had determined an inspection procedure.

"While the NTSB investigation is ongoing, we recommended suspending operations of the 69 in-service and 59 in-storage 777 aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney 4000-112 engines," the company said.

United, South Korea's Asiana and Japan's two main airlines, Japan Airlines (JAL) and All Nippon Airways (ANA), confirmed they had already suspended operations of 63 planes fitted with the same family of engine which scattered debris over Denver, Colorado on Saturday.

A video shot from inside the aircraft – which had 241 people onboard – showed the right engine ablaze and wobbling on the wing of the Boeing 777-200, its cover entirely missing as the aircraft flew over a landscape.

United plane suffers engine failure, scatters debris over US city

A United Airlines plane suffered a fiery engine failure shortly after taking off from Denver for Hawaii, dropping massive debris on a residential area before a safe emergency landing.

The US National Transportation and Safety Board is also investigating the incident.

United said it had voluntarily removed 24 Boeing 777 planes from service and expected "only a small number of customers to be inconvenienced."

South Korea's transport ministry said it had no immediate plans to ground planes, adding it was monitoring the situation.

South Korea's second-largest carrier, Asiana Airlines, said it would not fly any of its seven currently operational 777s.

"We are still waiting for instructions from South Korea's transport ministry on inspections but we are taking preemptive measures by gradually switching aircraft," a spokesman said.

Japan's transport ministry said on Dec. 4, 2020, a JAL flight from Naha Airport to Tokyo returned to Naha due to a malfunction in the left engine.

Extra inspections

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) ordered extra inspections Sunday of some Boeing 777 passenger jets after the Denver incident.

Stephen Dickson, head of the FAA, said he had consulted with experts and that some airplanes would "likely" be removed from service.

"I have directed them to issue an Emergency Airworthiness Directive that would require immediate or stepped-up inspections of Boeing 777 airplanes equipped with certain Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines," he said in a statement.

The mid-air US incident has dealt a fresh blow to Boeing as the American company has already grappled with several high-profile aviation accidents.

The manufacturer's 737 MAX was grounded worldwide in March 2019 after 346 people died in two crashes -- the 2019 Lion Air disaster in Indonesia and an Ethiopian Airlines crash the following year.

The crashes forced Boeing to ground the 737 MAX, which had become the company’s fastest-selling aircraft.

After the COVID-19 crisis decimated demand, airlines canceled hundreds of orders for the plane.

Investigators said a main cause of both Boeing crashes was a faulty flight handling system known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS.

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