First Use May Have Cracked Jet Engine
WASHINGTON — A top federal safety official told Congress on Thursday that a crack in a jet engine rotor suspected in the United Air Lines Flight 232 crash may have formed the first time the engine was cranked up.
James Kolstad, acting chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, also told the House Science, Space and Technology’s aviation subcommittee that it is still unclear whether the crack could have been detected during the last engine inspection before the crash.
The jetliner, a DC-10, crash-landed at Sioux City, Iowa, on July 19 following an explosion in the tail-mounted engine that shot engine parts across the tail surface, rupturing all three hydraulic flight control systems.
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