Problem isolated to JAS fleet
Associated Press
Japan Air System Planes Still Grounded
Wednesday January 21, 10:34 am ET
By Natalie Obiko Pearson, Associated Press Writer
16 Japan Air System Planes Remain Out of Service With Engine Cracks; More Flights Canceled
TOKYO (AP) -- Sixteen Japan Air System planes remained out of service Wednesday due to cracks in their engines and the carrier announced more flight cancellations after completing emergency inspections.
The Federal Aviation Administration, meanwhile, said Wednesday that "preliminary" information gathered from U.S. carriers and Pratt & Whitney, the manufacturer of the jet engines, indicates that the problem is isolated to the JAS fleet.
JAS has grounded more than 200 flights since beginning inspections Monday on all 25 of its MD-81 and MD-87 aircraft. The review was prompted by two cases of engine trouble earlier this month.
With two-thirds of those planes still grounded, 59 flights would be canceled Thursday, affecting some 4,400 passengers. Nine planes would be in service, including two that had had faulty engines replaced, the airline said in a statement.
The engines were produced by Pratt & Whitney, the East Hartford, Conn.-based builder of jet engines for commercial and military aircraft.
The cause of the engine cracks still had not been determined, but JAS was asking the U.S. company to investigate the problem as it conducted repairs, said JAS spokesman Tomonari Sato. Earlier, JAS had cited a possible design flaw as the cause.
FAA spokesman Les Dorr said the agency is working closely with Japan's civial aviation authorities, Pratt & Whitney and U.S. carriers that fly MD-80s, such as American Airlines, Alaska Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
"The preliminary information indicates that this is limited to the JAS fleet and is not typical of worldwide experience," Dorr said.
"If we need to take some safety action, whatever that might be, we would not hesitate," he added.
A Pratt & Whitney spokesman said its engineers have been dispatched to Japan and are also working on the problem at the company's Connecticut headquarters.
"We are working with JAS to understand what the problem they seem to have is and get their fleet back in operation," Pratt spokesman Mark Sullivan said Wednesday. "We've seen these kinds of problems periodically in the past."
On Jan. 6, an MD-81 had to abort its takeoff at Fukuoka airport in southern Japan due to vibrations in an engine. A MD-87 returned to Kagoshima airport, in southern Japan, the next day after developing a similar problem.
Inspections of the two planes turned up cracks in a compressor in their engines. Subsequent checks on all JAS aircraft of the same type turned up additional cracks and, in some cases, missing blades. Officials had said cracks or missing blades in the compressor can cause a plane's engine to vibrate, lose power, or even stop.
Officials at U.S. carriers told The Seattle Times they had experienced similar problems previously in the same type of engines in their fleets but that they were not aware of any at present.
American Airlines discovered five similar cracks on MD-80 engines in the past nine years. It does not consider them a major concern, but had requested more information, the newspaper quoted spokesman John Hotard as saying.
"We are still awaiting word from Pratt & Whitney on exactly what JAS has experienced," Hotard reportedly said. "We need to know more about these cracks and exactly where these cracks are located."
The affected aircraft were produced by McDonnell Douglas, which merged with Boeing Co. in 1997. JAS uses the aircraft only for domestic flights.
JAS and Japan Airlines set up a holding company, Japan Airlines System Corp., in October, 2002, and were to merge their flight operations in April this year.