Boeing 777 engine catches on fire again. For the second time in less than 9 months, a Boeing 777 engine caught on fire during the start of the planes takeoff roll. There were 302 passengers and 17 crew members on board the Korean Air 777, and they were all successfully evacuated from the airplane. The incident occurred at the Tokyo Haneda Airport on Friday, May 27, when the number one engine caught on fire. The twin engine plane was headed for Gimpo International Airport in Seoul, South Korea. Smoke was reportedly seen coming from the planes left engine just as it was about to takeoff. There are 19 people that were reportedly injured during the aircraft evacuation.
Boeing 777 engine warning had been issued by FAA
On September 8th, 2015, a British Airways 777 aircraft had an engine catch fire on takeoff from the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, Nevada. It came to light following that incident that the FAA had warned Boeing four years earlier that the GE90-85B engine had an unsafe condition. They had discovered that the compressor could possibly disintegrate and cause an explosion. This type of explosion could potentially propel debris at a high enough rate of speed to endanger the entire aircraft. General Electric released a statement that the British Airways 777 in Las Vegas had a different version of its GE90-8FB engine than the one mentioned in the warning. The National Transportation Safety Board investigating the British Airways engine fire stated that that incident occurred in the same way as that previously mentioned in its warning. Boeing and General Electric both objected to that warning that was issued by the FAA, but were unsuccessfully to get it removed from the record. As to this date, I have not ever flown on a Boeing 777 aircraft. I have always thought since the first time I saw the aircraft that its engines were just way too big for my comfort level.
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