U.S. Probing Cause of Cracks in GE’s F-18 Fighter Engines

General Electric Co. maintained partial production Thursday of jet engines for the Navy’s F-18 fighter planes while federal investigators sought the cause of cracks in hundreds of engines, officials said.

GE plant spokesman William Kennedy said the company alerted the Navy after cracks were found in “rocker arms” that control valve-like “vanes” on the outside of F404 engines, used in the Navy’s F-18 jet fighters.

Navy and Federal Aviation Administration inspectors began questioning officials at the GE plant Wednesday in the second federal probe in four months of defective jet engine parts at the plant.

Plant ‘Running Full’

“The plant is still really running full, but we’ve slowed down the production line at the point where these parts go on it,” said Kennedy, adding that shipments of the engines had been halted.

The cracks reportedly were found in “a few hundred parts” supplied to GE by Berkshire Manufactured Products Inc. of Newburyport, Mass., Kennedy said. GE manufactures about 350 of the F404 engines each year.

Navy and FAA officials refused to comment on the investigation but said they would soon decide whether to fine GE for about 30,000 defective parts found in a separate investigation last April at its Lynn plant.

“A team of engineers is now examining the parts to discover the cause of the surface cracks,” Kennedy said. “We haven’t had to lay any employees off nor is it likely we’ll have to do this.”

Flight Safety Unimpaired

Kennedy said the company does not know if the faulty component was contained in engines that already have been shipped, but said the possible problem would not impair flight safety.

GE, however, could be fined up to $1,000 per engine for failure to meet federal shipping standards, authorities said.

The engines have been used on Navy F-18 fighter planes for the last decade.