WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A United Airlines flight landed safely at Denver International Airport on Saturday after its right engine failed, the Federal Aviation Administration mentioned, with dramatic images showing debris from the aircraft scattered on the ground.
The Boeing 777-200 plane, with 231 passengers and 10 crew on board, was heading to Honolulu when it suffered an engine failure soon after takeoff, the airline mentioned.
There were no reports of injuries, both on the plane or the ground.
Images posted by police in Broomfield, Colorado showed vital plane debris on the ground, including an engine cowling scattered outside a home and what seemed to be other parts in an area. Police tape was used to cordon off the debris.
One video taken from what seemed to be inside the United aircraft showed an engine on fire.
Another video on social media confirmed a cloud of black smoke being left by a plane.
“Something blew up,” a man on the video can be heard saying.
In an audio recording, a United pilot could be heard making a mayday call to air traffic control.
“Mayday, aircraft simply experienced engine failure, want to show instantly,” according to audio from the monitoring website liveatc.net which was reviewed by Reuters.
The FAA mentioned it and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate. The NTSB mentioned it had opened an investigation.
“If you find debris PLEASE don’t touch it or move it. The
@NTSB wants all debris to remain in place for investigation,” the Broomfield police department mentioned on Twitter.
The 26-year-old 777 was powered by two Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines. Investigators will focus on what caused the accident and will look at whether a fan blade failed.
Boeing mentioned its technical advisers would assist the NTSB with its investigation, whereas United pledged to “work with federal agencies investigating this incident.”
United mentioned most of the passengers on Flight 328 took off on a new flight to Honululu late Saturday.
Engine failures are rare but are potentially dangerous whenever rotating parts pierce the outer casing – an event known as an uncontained engine failure.
In February 2018, an older Boeing 777 operated by United and bound for Honolulu suffered an engine failure when a cowling fell off about 30 minutes before the aircraft landed safely. The NTSB determined that incident was the result of a full-length fan blade fracture.
Because of the United fan blade separation incident, Pratt & Whitney, which is a unit of Raytheon, reviewed inspection records for all previously inspected PW4000 fan blades, the NTSB mentioned. The FAA in March 2019 issued a directive requiring initial and recurring inspections of the fan blades on the PW4000 engines.
