GE GE Aerospace

General Electric Co. said it is inspecting certain GE90 jet engines after accident investigators determined that the fracture of a high-pressure compressor part caused a serious runway fire aboard a British Airways PLC aircraft last month.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday identified that the break originated deep inside the engine, and said the engine maker is "performing high-priority, focused inspections" of other GE90 engines to help investigators determine further actions.

In a statement, the safety board confirmed earlier preliminary findings that parts of the Boeing Co. 777's left engine shot outside the casing, a rare and dangerous event that modern jet-engine designs are intended to prevent.

The NTSB said the problem originated in a portion of the high-pressure compressor, the section that squeezes the air flowing through the engine core before it is mixed with fuel and combusted.

Flight 2276, British Airways' scheduled service from McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to London Gatwick, suffered the engine failure as it accelerated for takeoff on the runway. The roll was quickly aborted by the pilots and the burning jet was evacuated.

The NTSB previously said only minor injuries were suffered by the 157 passengers and 13 crew members during the evacuation, though the plane was extensively damaged.

So-called uncontained failures, in which internal parts break through the engine's protective casing, can badly damage planes because the parts can hit wings, fuel tanks and fuselage.

The events are so rare that they prompt stepped-up investigative scrutiny. General Electric previously said it was the first such incident on a GE90 engine since its introduction to service 20 years ago.

General Electric said the part at issue is about 20 years old. Spokesman Rick Kennedy said the company is currently inspecting about three dozen other engines of similar vintage to determine any patterns of wear or other problems "to help us define" whether a broader inspection program was necessary. GE said there are about 400 of its older-generation GE90 engines currently in service. The company added that newer, more-powerful GE90 variants aren't subject to the current investigation.

Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 06, 2015 16:25 ET (20:25 GMT)

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