Mumbai: European aircraft manufacturer Airbus said on Monday that India has 14 A320neo aircraft where at least one PW engine is of the faulty category.
If one engine fails, a twinengine aircraft can safely land with the other operative engine. But aviation experts said that an aircraft that starts off with one engine that’s unreliable was not their idea of air safety.
A senior commander said: “On a three-engine or fourengine aircraft, having one unreliable engine is ok. But not on a two-engine aircraft like A320neo.”
As of now, 113 PW-powered A320neo aircraft are flying with 18 operators around the world, said Airbus. Statistics from Indian carriers show 45 out of these are in India. IndiGo is the lead operator with 29 (excluding the 3 grounded A320neos), followed by GoAir with 13.
Last Friday, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an emergency directive following several occurrences of engine failure reported on A320neos that are fitted with a certain category of PW engines. The directive said this category of PW engines was more susceptible to failure and so A320 neos with both engines belonging to this category should be grounded. But A320 neos in which only one engine was of this category have been allowed to operate.
Whether the 14 aircraft mentioned by Airbus include the 3 grounded by IndiGo is not clear. Currently, how many A320 neos are being operated by IndiGo and GoAir in which one of two PW engines is faulty is not known. Both airlines did not respond to a query sent by TOI.
On Monday, PW said that 43 engines installed on 32 A320neo aircraft worldwide come under the affected category. Of this, 21 aircraft have one faulty engine from the faulty category, and 11 aircraft have two . It however did not specify how many of these are in India.
13/02/18 Manju V/Times of India
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If one engine fails, a twinengine aircraft can safely land with the other operative engine. But aviation experts said that an aircraft that starts off with one engine that’s unreliable was not their idea of air safety.
A senior commander said: “On a three-engine or fourengine aircraft, having one unreliable engine is ok. But not on a two-engine aircraft like A320neo.”
As of now, 113 PW-powered A320neo aircraft are flying with 18 operators around the world, said Airbus. Statistics from Indian carriers show 45 out of these are in India. IndiGo is the lead operator with 29 (excluding the 3 grounded A320neos), followed by GoAir with 13.
Last Friday, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) issued an emergency directive following several occurrences of engine failure reported on A320neos that are fitted with a certain category of PW engines. The directive said this category of PW engines was more susceptible to failure and so A320 neos with both engines belonging to this category should be grounded. But A320 neos in which only one engine was of this category have been allowed to operate.
Whether the 14 aircraft mentioned by Airbus include the 3 grounded by IndiGo is not clear. Currently, how many A320 neos are being operated by IndiGo and GoAir in which one of two PW engines is faulty is not known. Both airlines did not respond to a query sent by TOI.
On Monday, PW said that 43 engines installed on 32 A320neo aircraft worldwide come under the affected category. Of this, 21 aircraft have one faulty engine from the faulty category, and 11 aircraft have two . It however did not specify how many of these are in India.
13/02/18 Manju V/Times of India
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