Engine Troubles Ground ANA 787s

Two All Nippon Airways Boeing 787s remain out of service after inspections uncovered a problem with their Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines. ANA grounded five of its Dreamliners over the weekend after the Rolls-Royce discovered some “minor” corrosion within an external gearbox during product development testing.

“As part of our rigorous approach to product safety and quality, we have identified that a component on Trent 1000 engines on Boeing 787 Dreamliners has a reduced service life,” a Rolls-Royce spokesman told AIN. “As a proactive measure, this component is being replaced in a number of engines. We are working hard to minimize disruption to customer operations.”

For its part, Boeing identified the affected part as crown gears within the Hamilton Sundstrand-supplied gearbox that corroded as a result of a change to the manufacturing process. Boeing added that it will not deliver any airplanes with the affected parts and that replacement of the gearboxes will happen “in the coming days.”