Type of engine on Canadian 737s

[anibalb]

Hello
The FAA is going to issue an AD on the CFM56-7B due to the Southwest accident this week. I wonder which Canadian operators are actually using these engines as this could be a big issue depending on the requirements.

https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=90105

Cheers

Anibal

[tbaylx]

It's certain cfm56's not all of them. It's a simple ndt check, shouldn't have much of an effect on operations.

[av8ts]

Hello
The FAA is going to issue an AD on the CFM56-7B due to the Southwest accident this week. I wonder which Canadian operators are actually using these engines as this could be a big issue depending on the requirements.

https://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=90105

Cheers

Anibal

Saw a news report that said about 20 of Westjets aircraft have that engine

[TheStig]

This was an unfortunate occurrence and its horrific that a passenger died. this is my opinion, so feel free to disagree, but from the media coverage I have seen, now that they've covered the heroic actions of the passengers and professionalism of the crew, its clear that they are looking for some kind of 'smoking gun' to sensationalize this and show negligence. It's unfortunate that the FAA and the operators and succumbing to this pressure. The CFM 56 engine has been in operation since the 1970's, and there is nothing to see here folks. The inflight shutdown rate of this engine over a 40 year data sample is 1 in over 300,000 hours. To put its lifespan into perspective, its development was the result of RICHARD NIXON approving GE's request to use the engine core it had developed using DoD funding (for the B-1A bomber) to partner with SNECMA.

The media is in the sensationalization business not information business, that's an unfortunate reality I suppose. But the FAA isn't doing any one any favours feeding that monster, as they did after the Asiana accident in SFO, releasing preliminary information as they've done ("The blade showed evidence of metal fatigue") doesn't serve any purpose other than to scare people. Really? metal fatigue? no kidding, it ripped itself apart, that's like saying the window showed evidence of damage. The problem, is what the media does with that information. Unless the preliminary information gathered requires immediate action, why not state, "we plan on releasing a detailed report once we have conducted a thorough investigation."?

[fish4life]

Sorry but 2 uncontained failures in 2 years is too much. Apparently CFM asked the FAA to require an inspection on the blades after the 2016 incident but pressure from the airlines resulted in this not happening... It is the fan blades and metal fatigue that is the issue not something buried deep in the engine core. Would you prefer we wait until another fan blade lets go and takes a hull loss due to more serious damage?

[TheStig]

Apparently CFM asked the FAA to require an inspection on the blades after the 2016 incident but pressure from the airlines resulted in this not happening...

If a manufacture mandated that kind of inspection do you think the FAA or any airline would be able to stop them?

[goingnowherefast]

Is an NDT inspection even that big of a deal? To me it seems like an "oh, these engines are exhibiting obvious signs of ageing in ways we didn't expect, so better do an extra check to be safe".

Isn't that pretty normal protocol after an unexpected and/or dramatic failure in any component? Add or increase inspection intervals?

[Pacqing]

Which blades require the NDT? First stage fan or compressor or power turbine? Fan is quite quick, maybe 30 min to remove the set a couple hrs for a tech for the NDT then slip them back on the hub. Compressor or PT is another story.

[fish4life]

Which blades require the NDT? First stage fan or compressor or power turbine? Fan is quite quick, maybe 30 min to remove the set a couple hrs for a tech for the NDT then slip them back on the hub. Compressor or PT is another story.

Considering it was a fan blade missing from the southwest plane my guess would be fan blade but I haven’t actually looked into which blades require the inspection

[plhought]

Saw a news report that said about 20 of Westjets aircraft have that engine

With the exception of the Max's all the WestJet NG aircraft have the CFM56-7Bs

Not all have >30,000 cycles on them though.

http://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guida ... rgency.pdf

[Go Guns]

The European Union AD makes reference to specific part number for fan blades, and the number of cycles.

https://ad.easa.europa.eu/blob/EASA_AD_ ... 8-0093-E_1

The FAA AD seems to say all CFM56s over 30,000 hours, but also makes reference to another bulletin. Perhaps WestJet only has a few planes which fall under the scope of these,

[sstocker31]

To me this seems like a reasonable move by the FAA.
There appears to be an issue with the blades, and for the airlines to be able to do this inspection overnight without a huge expense seems reasonable to me. The optics of another failure would create a serious issue with the traveling public.

[GTF]

This was an unfortunate occurrence and its horrific that a passenger died. this is my opinion, so feel free to disagree, but from the media coverage I have seen, now that they've covered the heroic actions of the passengers and professionalism of the crew, its clear that they are looking for some kind of 'smoking gun' to sensationalize this and show negligence. It's unfortunate that the FAA and the operators and succumbing to this pressure. The CFM 56 engine has been in operation since the 1970's, and there is nothing to see here folks. The inflight shutdown rate of this engine over a 40 year data sample is 1 in over 300,000 hours. To put its lifespan into perspective, its development was the result of RICHARD NIXON approving GE's request to use the engine core it had developed using DoD funding (for the B-1A bomber) to partner with SNECMA.

The media is in the sensationalization business not information business, that's an unfortunate reality I suppose. But the FAA isn't doing any one any favours feeding that monster, as they did after the Asiana accident in SFO, releasing preliminary information as they've done ("The blade showed evidence of metal fatigue") doesn't serve any purpose other than to scare people. Really? metal fatigue? no kidding, it ripped itself apart, that's like saying the window showed evidence of damage. The problem, is what the media does with that information. Unless the preliminary information gathered requires immediate action, why not state, "we plan on releasing a detailed report once we have conducted a thorough investigation."?

I don’t think this inspection is out of line at all. It is only for high time engines, which I’m sure are more prone to failure than the older engines. Alaska Airlines has been doing these inspections on their fleet voluntarily since the last incident a few years back, and has accelerated them since the recent one. Incidentally, none of Alaska’s engines have yet accumulated enough hours to require the inspection, yet they are, and have been doing it anyway. It really isn’t that big of a deal.

[Eric Janson]

I have over 12000 hours flying with CFM engines on 3 different aircraft types.

They've never let me down - they just keep running. The only thing to watch for is the EGT exceeding the maximum value on a hot day with maximum thrust.

Just to add some perspective CFM56 engines have clocked up over 30 million hours and a CFM56 powered aircraft takes off every few minutes.

Ignore the media hysteria.