News
Regulators demand earlier mandated CFM56 crack inspections
May 25th 2018
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are demanding earlier than initially mandated checks of CFM56 engine blades with 20,000-30,000 cycles. Read More » EASA and FAA now require those checks to be completed by June 30 instead of the original August 31 deadline.
“It has been determined that the initial inspection for certain fan blades must be accomplished within a reduced compliance time. This AD [airworthiness directive] retains the requirements of EASA AD 2018-0093-E [issued May 2], which is superseded but reduces, for certain engines or fan blades, the compliance time for the initial inspection,” EASA said.
After the first inspection, engine manufacturer, CFM International, advised operators to conduct repeat inspections after every 3,000 cycles, which typically represents approximately two years of airline operations. Approximately 14,000 CFM56-7B engines are in service with airlines worldwide.
CFM said disruptions caused by the additional checks will be minimal and could be conducted overnight as an aircraft undergoes regularly scheduled inspections. The extra safety check, conducted on-wing with an ultrasonic probe along the surface of the fan blade, will take approximately four hours per engine, CFM said.
CFM partners, GE and Safran Aircraft Engines, have sent more than 500 technicians to more than 60 airlines worldwide to support the extra inspections.
In the Asia-Pacific, the largest CFM56-7B operators are China Southern Airlines (180 aircraft), its Xiamen Airlines subsidiary (150 aircraft), the HNA Aviation carriers (162 aircraft), Air China (135 jets) and its Shandong Airlines subsidiary (115 aircraft). Australian carriers Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia have large CFM56-7B fleets, mounted on 75 and 85 B737NGs, respectively. Garuda Indonesia has 73 B737NGs.
The Mainland and Australian fleets are relatively young with the majority of engines having completed 10,000-12,000 cycles. However, it is common to replace individual fan blades as needs arise and a number of Asia-Pacific airlines have said that while whole engines may not have accumulated 30,000 cycles, in certain cases individual fan blades may have and would have to be replaced as instructed.
The CFM AD follows the fatal engine failure of a CFM56-powered Southwest Airlines B737 en route from New York’s La Guardia to Dallas Love Field in April, sending shrapnel through a window, which broke open and caused the cabin to depressurize.
