Question:

How often does catastrophic blade failure occur on passenger aircraft jet engines?

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How often does catastrophic blade failure occur on passenger aircraft jet engines?

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  1. It happens more often then we like to believe.  Any metal that a jet engine will rip itself to shreds.

    The strange things is that it can swallow a whole chicken without even a single caugh.  But throw in a 1/4 inch s***w and the jet engine self destructs (often leading to catastrophic blade failure).

    That is why on air force bases around the world, they do a walk around the landing field to visually pick up any metal debris.

    That is also the way the Concord blew up.

    Good Luck...

    P.S.  Some of this info is from my friend who interned at one of the jet manufacturer in Long Island (NY).


  2. Not very often, but when it does, newer Aircraft engines have been designed to contain it and the plane would still be flyable.

  3. Your Q can have 2 answers to it.

    1) Blade falure does happen and the engine can get destroyed. There are tests done on new engines like the Trend 1000 and the turbine has to survive the whole thing.

    2) Blade falure that end up in total disaster happens rarely. I dont know about one incident where a aircraft went down due to blade falure. A enjine is only held by 3 bolts and if the vibration becomes to big the engine is made to shred off, sounds dangerous but it is safe it keeps the aircraft from braking apart.

    Hopes this answers you Q

  4. Blade failure in jet engines is very very rare. Metal technology has come such a long way that material failure in the turbine section can be virtually ruled out. Blade failure can occur mainly due to overheating of the jet engine, ingestion of foreign matter and oil starvation (which subsequently leads to over heating as well). In the current generation jet engines over-heat condition and oil pressure loss are detected well in time. This allows the pilots to take remedial actions and shut down the engine, thus avoiding any further damage to the engine and the aircraft. Further, modern multi-engine jets are fully capable of flying absolutely safely with one engine shut down, even during the take off and landing stages. They are fully capable of flying safely with one engine shut down even for extended periods.

    Finally blade failure is an extremely remote case.

  5. The last blade failure that I know of that caused a crash  was in 1989, United 232. The number 2 engine on a DC-10 suffered a turbine failure. Since the DC--10 had 3 engines, #2 was located at the base of the vertical fin, not  "held on by 3 bolts".  The loss of the engine did not cause the crash, but the separating blades sliced through all 3 hydraulic control systems.   Amazingly the pilots came close to a successful landing controlling the plane by varying the power on the 2 remaining engines.

         That was 19 years ago, so the answer to your question is "not often".  

    Of course, there may have been non-catastrophic failures since.

  6. I cannot think of the last time a catastrophic blade failure occurred on a passenger aircraft. As a previous people have said during the design phase of a jet engine a fan blade is rigged with an explosive bolt. At maximum thrust the engine casing and nacelle must be able to contain all debris.

    The nearest thing to blade failure that is normally seen on passenger jet engines is overheated turbine blades.

  7. it doesnt happen at all.that i know of.ive only seen the whole engine come off hit the ground then have blade failure.

  8. Jet engines in use on today’s commercial airliners are quite reliable.  It is not uncommon for engines to operate for tens of thousands of hours without difficulty before being removed from service for scheduled inspection.  However, engine malfunctions or failures occasionally occur that require an engine to be shut down in flight.  Since multi-engine airplanes are designed to fly with one engine inoperative and flight crews are trained to fly with one engine inoperative, the in-flight shutdown of an engine typically does not constitute a safety of flight issue.  In fact, these events are generally not reportable to the NTSB.  Following an engine shutdown, a precautionary landing is performed with airport fire and rescue equipment positioned near the runway.  Once the airplane lands, fire department personnel assist with inspecting the airplane to ensure it is safe before it taxis to the gate.

    Most in-flight shutdowns are benign and likely to go unnoticed by passengers.  For example, it may be prudent for the flight crew to shut down an engine and perform a precautionary landing in the event of a low oil pressure or high oil temperature warning in the cockpit.  However, passengers may become quite alarmed by other engine events such as a compressor surge a malfunction that is typified by loud bangs and even flames from the engine’s inlet and tailpipe.  A compressor surge is a disruption of the airflow through a gas turbine engine that can be caused by engine deterioration, a crosswind over the engine’s inlet, ingestion of foreign material, or an internal component failure such as a broken blade.  While this situation can be alarming, the condition is momentary and not dangerous.

    Two terms are helpful in describing the nature of engine failures.  A “contained” engine failure is one in which components might separate inside the engine but either remain within the engine’s cases or exit the engine through the tail pipe.  This is a design feature of all engines and generally should not pose an immediate flight risk.  An “uncontained” engine failure can be more serious because pieces from the engine exit the engine at high speeds in other directions, posing potential danger to the aircraft structure and persons within the plane.  The NTSB will investigate any uncontained engine failure involving a transport category aircraft that is an aircraft over 12,500 lbs in weight.

    To answer your question uncontained engine failure do happen and yes sometimes there is damage to the aircraft.  Since 1982 there have been no accidents reported of a major carrier and uncontained engine failure.  This information is available on the NTSB web site at: http://www.ntsb.gov

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