FAA Orders Airline Fix on Boeing 747s to Avoid Takeoff Risks
Boeing 747-400
Richard A. Brooks/AFP/Getty Images
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet takes off from Hong Kong's international airport.
A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet takes off from Hong Kong's international airport. Photographer: Richard A. Brooks/AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration proposed that airlines modify wing-flap wiring on certain Boeing 747-400 models to avoid a risk that the planes won’t take off properly.
The FAA is acting after flaps on a 747-400 with Rolls-Royce Group Plc engines automatically retracted during takeoff, it said in an Aug. 5 Federal Register notice. A faulty signal from the engine’s control unit led to the retraction, which can impair a plane’s ability to take off, the agency said.
The proposed order would cover 98 U.S. aircraft and cost airlines about $85 per plane, the agency said in the notice. Boeing on Jan. 12 recommended modifying the 747-400 aircraft with engines made by General Electric Co. and United Technologies Corp.’s Pratt & Whitney unit, which use the same signal design as the Rolls-Royce models, the FAA said.
The agency said the unsafe condition may result in “reduced climb performance” and cause a “collision with terrain and obstacles or forced landing of the airplane.”
The modification, described as not a “significant regulatory action,” will cost about $8,330 for the industry, the agency said.
The directive won’t become final until the FAA reviews public comments, which are due Sept. 20, it said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeff Plungis in Washington at jplungis@bloomberg.net.
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