WASHINGTON (REUTERS) – Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) chief Steve Dickson said on Tuesday (Feb 23) the agency is acting quickly to finalise a new emergency airworthiness directive that will require stepped-up inspections of all Boeing 777-200 aeroplanes with Pratt & Whitney PW400 engines after an engine failure on a United Airlines flight.
The agency announced on Sunday it would soon issue a directive, while United said it would ground its fleet of 777s with the engine in question pending the FAA directive.
“We have been working on this nonstop since Saturday afternoon and I am confident that we will get it right,” Dickson said.
“We want to understand what happened and then take the necessary steps to prevent a similar occurrence in the future.”