United Flight 328 DEN-HNL 777 Feb 20, 2021 UEF ✈

[jiml]

Fortunately a lot of the affected aircraft appear to be stored already.

 

[jis]

I guess UA will temporarily deploy their GE powered 77Es on the routes where domestic 777As were being used. The intercontinental routes for the time being will continue with 77Ws. So a bunch of domestic passengers might get to enjoy Polaris BC seats.

Ironically, reduced traffic due to COVID will help a lot in tiding over this outage.

 

[PVD]

Not sure what level of "storage" they are in, but they have a bunch of 767-400 parked as well as 300s

 

[Cal]

From what was mentioned on the news, it appears the greatest majority of 777 are not using this engine. Many of the earlier 777 are indeed RR Trent or GE powered, later on it became all GE engines. I believe that AA has a bunch of the 200 variants that are RR. Longer range and newer are all GE.

Mhm, most are using the GE90, which are my favorite aviation engine!

 

[PVD]

And a derivative the GE9X is the engine for the next family of 777

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Some aviation fans have disputed the uncontained nature of the failure, and even claimed that grounding the subfleet was an overreaction, but in my view the photo above puts that debate to rest. Even if the FAA & UA refused to act foreign regulators and airlines were moving to ground P&W aircraft. The real question is why increased inspections are still failing to find flaws before they result in a serious problem.

I guess UA will temporarily deploy their GE powered 77Es on the routes where domestic 777As were being used. The intercontinental routes for the time being will continue with 77Ws. So a bunch of domestic passengers might get to enjoy Polaris BC seats.

Utilization and demand remain relatively low, so in the short term I think it's more likely that we see increased frequencies over stored fleet activation. Demand may even dip a bit since this story received more than the usual amount of press due to an abundance of striking visual content.

 

[PVD]

I don't believe any GE 777 are in storage at UA That's why I mentioned other types.

 

[jis]

I don't believe any GE 777 are in storage at UA That's why I mentioned other types.

77Ws are mostly in use, there are some GE 77Es that are in storage the last time I looked.

 

[PVD]

I didn't see any, but some of these lists are off a bit... A 747 freighter with P&W blew an engine a few days ago in Europe, and it shows as stored.

 

[jis]

I didn't see any, but some of these lists are off a bit... A 747 freighter with P&W blew an engine a few days ago in Europe, and it shows as stored.

Well they are not in deep storage, but they are not in current use on a regular basis either. They maybe being rotated in and out to keep them current, but a number are parked in various places. They don't have enough operating flights to need most of the GE 77Es at present.

 

[TrackWalker]

Well they are not in deep storage, but they are not in current use on a regular basis either. They maybe being rotated in and out to keep them current, ...

I don't want to hijack this threat but is Amtrak rotating it's passenger cars to keep them current now with cutbacks?

 

[jis]

I don't want to hijack this threat but is Amtrak rotating it's passenger cars to keep them current now with cutbacks?

I have no idea since I don't have access to that information.

However, keeping a plane current is probably a more pressing need if one expects to want to put them back into service in short order, since deep storing a plane is a long and involved process and a deep stored plane takes a long time to reactivate. Passenger cars are probably much easier to store and reactivate from storage. Planes are just a bit more complicated technical beasts than passenger cars

 

[jis]

Here's some more concrete details from airliners.net...

UA had only 13 of the 777As flying. 6 are short term parked. Additionally 10 772ERs are short term parked as are somewhere between a half a dozen and a dozen 788s.

Currently the grounded 772As are being covered by a combination of 773, 789, 788, 753 and 738 depending on individual segment loads.

 

[PVD]

That makes sense, there certainly is a difference between parked and stored...

 

[Cal]

Currently the grounded 772As are being covered by a combination of 773, 789, 788, 753 and 738 depending on individual segment loads.

Those getting on a 787 are really lucky...

And almost any avgeek would rather be on a 753 as well.

 

[jis]

Those getting on a 787 are really lucky...

And almost any avgeek would rather be on a 753 as well.

Those 773s (actually 77Ws) are Polaris too. They are very impressive planes. I fly by them at least a couple of times a year in non-pandemic years to India and back. I guess I am missing that trip only this year, if things proceed as they are.

 

[Dakota 400]

Some aviation fans have disputed the uncontained nature of the failure, and even claimed that grounding the subfleet was an overreaction, but in my view the photo above puts that debate to rest

It was an uncontained engine failure on United 262 that caused that accident. Interesting that flight originated in Denver just as United 328 did.

 

[PVD]

Be interesting to see the 764 come back. The 16 parked at Roswell are supposed to be c39 (polaris) 203y with E=@35 and 31 for regular

 

[Cal]

Those 773s (actually 77Ws) are Polaris too. They are very impressive planes. I fly by them at least a couple of times a year in non-pandemic years to India and back. I guess I am missing that trip only this year, if things proceed as they are.

YEs they are! The 777-300 is a beauty.

 

[TomLang]

Are the same engines used in other airframes? More groundings and inspections would be in order.

 

[jis]

Here is a really nice blow by blow accounting of how the incident unfolded including aircraft position, ATC, what the pilots were doing and associated info presented very nicely by someone who is a pilot himself ....

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Here is an update on current state of the NTSB investigation.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/23/us/boeing-aircraft-engine-fail-tuesday/index.html
Here is a look at related events and the blade inspection process.

https://mentourpilot.com/united-777-200-update-faa-to-ground-affected-jets/

Those getting on a 787 are really lucky...And almost any avgeek would rather be on a 753 as well.

Why?

 

[gswager]

It stated that the 777 was losing altitude after engine failure. Question is the plane can maintain its' altitude with one engine running, esp of you're over the vast expanse of ocean?

 

[Devil's Advocate]

It stated that the 777 was losing altitude after engine failure. Question is the plane can maintain its' altitude with one engine running, esp of you're over the vast expanse of ocean?

Maintaining lift with an engine loss is a requirement of commercial certification. In the case of twin engine jets this means they must be able to maintain sufficient lift with a single engine in operation. Loss of altitude could be due to a number of reasons. Watch the video in post #46 to see what was likely going on inside the aircraft at that time.

 

[jis]

It stated that the 777 was losing altitude after engine failure. Question is the plane can maintain its' altitude with one engine running, esp of you're over the vast expanse of ocean?

What is the "It" that stated?

Denver Departure assigned it an altitude of 9,000' after the MAYDAY at a higher altitude. So the plane descended to that altitude. That had nothing to do with the loss of an engine.

Then later after the checklists were done and finally Runway 26 was settled on for landing it was assigned 7,000' to ILS intercept AFAIR. It was pretty much a normal single engine flight after the damaged engine was secured.

Remember, a 777 can climb from the runway out on a single engine.