On Monday, a Boeing 777-200ER, operated by 
United Airlines, rejected takeoff due to an engine fire, as reported by The Aviation Herald on Wednesday. The aircraft, which is registered N793UA, was operating UA889 from Beijing Capital Airport (PEK), China, to San Francisco International Airport (SFO), USA. Takeoff was aborted after there was a loud bang and fire seen from the right engine.
- Length
-
209 ft 1 in (63.7 m)
- Wingspan
-
199 ft 11 in (60.9 m)
- Height
-
60 ft 9 in (18.5 m)
The Pratt & Whitney PW4090 engine failed, and the aircraft slowed and safely stopped on the runway, where emergency services responded and put out a fire in the engine. Following this, the flight was canceled, and per The Aviation Herald, the aircraft was still on the ground in Beijing 50 hours later.
More Details On The Incident
The 777-200ER was accelerating for takeoff from runway 01 at PEK, when the crew rejected takeoff at high speed. According to the planespotters.net, the engine failure caused several tires to burst, which was most likely due to a sudden loss of thrust on one side. All things considered, the incident could have been much worse.
Fortunately, the aircraft remained stable on the runway, and a runway excursion did not occur. For the layperson, this is when the plane leaves the designated area of the runway during takeoff or landing. It is also fortunate that the loss of thrust did not occur immediately following takeoff, before the aircraft had built up enough lift through velocity to achieve stable flight, as this may have caused it to lose control, or stall close to the ground.
What Passengers Saw
Emergency services, including numerous fire trucks and ambulances, reportedly responded to the engine fire. However, the fire was put out quickly, and all 229 passengers and crew were safely disembarked from the plane via stairs.
No injuries were reported, and United Airlines provided re-booking options for the flight and hotel accommodation for the affected passengers. The following day, another 777-200ER, registered as N799UA, was arranged as a replacement for N793UA.
As seen in the video, the engine failure was quite severe. The engine released a blast and then continued to trail flames while the aircraft slowed.
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This incident is reminiscent of one that occurred on May 27, 2016, in which a Korean Air Boeing 777-300, also equipped with a PW4090, experienced an uncontained turbine failure while taking off from Tokyo Haneda Airport (HND). AIRLIVE reported this incident and, like the more recent incident, it resulted in an aborted takeoff on the runway. In this case, the 319 passengers onboard were evacuated. No injuries were reported, and the fire was promptly extinguished on site.
Was This Caused By Old PW4000 Issues?
Both aircraft involved in the recent engine fire and the one in 2016 were equipped with a PW4000-112 series engine. Following another incident in 2018, the FAA imposed a more frequent inspection interval on the engines in the hopes of catching any further issues. Routine fan blade inspections in 2005 and 2010 showed a crack in the metal structure of the fans.
Despite this measure, further incidents involving the engines occurred in 2020 and 2021, and as The Seattle Times reported in 2021, the FAA imposed further mandates, mandating Thermal Acoustic Inspection of fan blades.
Though many efforts have been made to catch any issues with these engines’ fan blades, the recent incident may have resulted from the metallurgical issues found at the time.
