Serious Rolls-Royce aero engines gone to dog shit

[Sammyboy RSS Feed]

An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/...m-to-hit-boei/

Rolls-Royce engines are the source of latest problem to hit Boeing's troubled 787 Dreamliner

787
Japan's ANA is the biggest operator of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner
Alan Tovey, industry editor
25 AUGUST 2016 • 1:55PM
The troubled Dreamliner jet has run into fresh problems with Japanese airline All Nippon Airlines (ANA) grounding flights because of issues with the aircraft’s Rolls-Royce engines.

ANA, the largest operator of Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, said it was cancelling services to replace compressor blades in the aircraft’s Trent 1000 engines produced by FTSE 100 listed Rolls-Royce.

Shares in the Derby-based engineer fell almost 2pc on the news that the Japanese carrier had found corrosion on blades inside the engines.


ANA has 49 Dreamliners in services - more than 10pc of the 445 Seattle-built 787s that have been delivered so far by Boeing.

So far nine flights using the jet have been cancelled and ANA has indicated that more changes to its flight schedule are likely to follow because of the problem.


Rolls competes with US rival General Electric to supply engines for the 787, one of the newest most advanced airliners in the world, and the British company has almost 40pc of the market.

A spokesman for Rolls said: “We are aware of the situation and are working closely with ANA to minimise the effect on aircraft service disruption.”

The problems are understood to relate to the way ANA uses the aircraft, with their airline using its 787s for shorter routes. This means that the engines go through more "cycles" than other operators, so the engines effectively age faster than if they were used on longer routes. This accelerates the amount of servicing they need.

It is understood to be too early to tell whether the increased maintenance will have a financial impact on Rolls under its "aftercare" agreement with ANA, but the company generally makes conservative assumptions on these pckages meaning it is unlikely to have much of an impact on the company's finances.

Trent 1000
Rolls-Royce makes the Trent 1000 for the Dreamliner CREDIT: KURUSH PAWAR
The Dreamliner had a difficult introduction into airline service. It’s first flight was pushed back several times as a host of problems surfaced in the production process, delaying its maiden flight by several years.

ANA took delivery of the first 787 in September 2011, but once the jet began commercial flights further troubles emerged as a result of its advanced technology, which includes the use of composites in the fuselage and lithium batteries.

In January 2013, a fire broke out in an empty Japan 787 parked at Boston airport, caused by the battery. Days later an ANA 787 made an emergency landing after the flight crew received a computer warning of smoke inside an electrical compartment, and warnings about a battery malfunction.

Ethiopian Airlines 787
Firefighters tackled a fire aboard an Ethiopian Airlines 787 at Heathrow after a problem with its batteries
Three months later a fire broke out in an empty Ethiopian Airlines 787 at Heathrow, which investigators said was started by problems with batteries powering an emergency beacon.

Boeing has rectified problems with the batteries, but the 787 suffered another hitch in April this year when US regulators ordered airlines to carry out an urgent fix to 176 Dreamliners fitted with FGE engines because of an engine icing problem.

The instruction came from the Federal Aviation Administration after an incident in Janaury when one of the two engines on a Japan Airlines 787 shut down in mid-flight and could not be restarted.

The pilot was able to land the plane safely using one engine, and the problem was caused by ice coming off the engine's fan blades, causing them to rub against another part of the engine, causing vibrations.


Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com.