Originally Posted by
vapilot2004
Not so long ago considered a rare event, uncontained engine failures seem to be happening with more regularity. The technology is mature, so maintenance inspection procedures and manufacturing QC would appear to be the first places to start looking for problems.
I'm not sure they are happening at a higher rate - there are other items in play. The number of aircraft and their utilization are both up dramatically over the last 10 years, and with the internet and 24 hour news cycle we hear about the incidents right away. For example, a relatively young Trent 800 on a 777 had a fan blade release back around year 2000 - did you know about it? I do but that's because I was working the 777 at the time...
What I am concerned about is the way the fan cowls are coming apart after a fan blade release - that's not supposed to happen (and is taken into account during the design process). That didn't used to happen, and I'm at a loss as to what may have changed.