Just out from Bloomberg:
Rolls-Royce Group Plc was forced to temporarily close a site used to trial jet engines for Boeing Co.’s 787 Dreamliner model and the rival Airbus SAS A350 after a turbine blew up on the test bed earlier this month.
The failure of the Trent 1000 engine, which powers the Dreamliner, resulted in “limited debris being released into the test facility,” Rolls-Royce spokesman Josh Rosenstock said in a telephone interview late yesterday. Minor repairs to the site in Derby, England, will be completed shortly, he said.
The failure, which happened on August 2, was not initially confirmed as uncontained by Rolls-Royce or Boeing, with statements that declined to address the specific nature of the incident.
The European Aviation Safety Agency, which must sign off on new aircraft and components developed in the region, said it sent an official to England following the test-bed incident. The malfunction occurred on Aug. 2 and was a so-called uncontained failure, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokeswoman Alison Duquette. That means pieces of debris would have been flung out at high speed, piercing the housing.
“We can confirm that we have been notified by Rolls-Royce and we are working with the company to make sure the engine is certified to the highest possible standard,” EASA spokesman Jeremie Teahan said yesterday from Cologne, Germany.
Boeing said last week that it was working with Rolls-Royce closely on the investigation and added that it the failure had not impacted 787 flight testing “to date”. Though as part of the company’s investigation, it was “working through a plan” to determine if first delivery to ANA or 787 production flights would be impacted. Boeing did not disclose when it expected to complete the investigation.
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This post originally appeared at Flightglobal.com from 2007 to 2012.