Lump of Ice May Have Caused Crash of British Jetliner
Aircraft specialists searching for the cause of the Boeing 737 crash in central England say a lump of ice may have smashed the main fan of one of the engines, the Times of London reported Friday.
The Jan. 8 crash near the village of Kegworth killed 46 people, including a woman who died of her injuries Thursday.
The paper, however, said detailed analysis of the British Midland Airways plane’s two engines by engineers from the French company SNECMA have not produced any conclusive cause for the break-up of the plane’s left engine.
SNECMA builds the CFM-56 engines with General Electric Co. The engines of the jet are being examined at the headquarters of SNECMA near Paris.
“Investigators are relying on two theories, that it was damaged after being struck by a foreign body, possibly ice from the waste pipe of the forward lavatory, or that the blades suffered metal fatigue,” the report said.
“The engineers have found nothing wrong with the jet’s right engine and no evidence to explain why the crew shut it down,” it said.
The crew shut down the right engine of the plane while the left engine caught fire. News reports have said investigators are examining the possibility of faulty electronics.
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