British Ground Most 737s With Problem Engine

The British government Tuesday grounded more than half of the country’s commercial jet aircraft equipped with the same type of engine that exploded last week in the northern city of Manchester, resulting in the deaths of 54 people.

The Civil Aviation Authority ordered the engines to be checked immediately and said the planes will not be allowed to fly again until careful inspections are carried out.

The order, affecting the majority of Boeing 737 jets operated by British carriers, came after cursory checks following the Manchester disaster turned up “extensive cracking” in the combustion chambers of six other engines.

Last Wednesday, one of the two engines on a British Airtours 737 exploded while the chartered aircraft was on its takeoff run at Manchester airport. Preliminary investigation reports indicate that the blast may have been triggered by the disintegration of one of the engine’s nine combustion chambers.

The aviation authority’s order affected British-owned planes equipped with the same type of engine that exploded--the U.S.-made Pratt & Whitney model JT8D-15--if they have been flown more than 12,000 hours and if they have undergone a specific combustion chamber modification similar to that carried out on the British Airtours plane.

Reports from five airlines that make up the bulk of Britain’s commercial aircraft owners indicated that more than 70 aircraft will be grounded.

In Washington, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday night it will direct U.S. airlines to also inspect the engines.

Disruption Unlikely

The spokesman, Fred Farrar, said U.S. carriers will not be grounded and played down the possibility that the action would disrupt commercial traffic.

Many U.S. planes have Pratt and Whitney engines, but the carriers could be inspected on a gradual basis, Farrar said. He said he expected the agency to issue a directive today or Thursday.

British spokesman Brian Smith called the grounding order virtually unprecedented there, although he noted that the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 was briefly grounded in the late 1970s after a series of disasters involving that aircraft.

The British aviation authority also ordered less urgent checks on all Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15 engines with 9,000 to 12,000 hours of service and imposed a tight cycle of inspection on all JT8D-15 engines at 100-hour intervals.

In the first hectic hours after the grounding order, airlines were uncertain just how badly they would be affected. A spokesman for British Airways, the nation’s flag carrier and largest airline, said that nearly half its fleet of 44 737s would be grounded. In addition to 737s, the Pratt & Whitney engine is also used on some Boeing 727 and DC-9 jets.

Despite the extent of the sweeping order, airlines and package-tour operators catering to a late-summer rush of air charter tours were hopeful that passenger chaos could be avoided. Smith’s comments gave them reason to hope. “The checks will not take long to carry out,” he said, “and, even if cracks are found, the repairs can be completed in a few hours.”