Rolls-Royce uncovers new Trent 1000 issues and will extend inspections
Rolls-Royce has uncovered a new issue with its Trent 1000 engines, related to intermediate pressure compressor durability. The company will now extend its inspection regime on Trent 1000s.
To date,…
Rolls-Royce has uncovered a new issue with its Trent 1000 engines, related to intermediate pressure compressor durability. The company will now extend its inspection regime on Trent 1000s.
To date, inspections of Trent 1000 engines, which power Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, have focused on the Package C version. The regime is seeking to address premature wear of compressor blades, a problem that first came to light in 2016.
The latest issue, however, was identified on a small number of high life Package B engines.
Rolls-Royce has agreed with the relevant regulatory authorities, as well as Boeing, to carry out a one-off inspection of its Trent 1000 Package B fleet, to “further inform” its understanding. The Package B standard has been in service since 2012 and consists of 166 engines.
A statement from Rolls-Royce said: “Since identifying this issue, we have undertaken a wide range of engineering analysis and engine tests to further our understanding of the cause. While this work has focused on Package C, we have also considered whether the same durability issue may occur on other Trent 1000 engine variants.”
The statement added: “These inspections will be supported by an EASA Airworthiness Directive which will be published in the coming days, and as a result we anticipate there will be a limited impact on customer operations to enable this programme of one-off inspections to take place.
“Engines will be inspected on-wing using existing techniques.”
Chris Cholerton, Rolls-Royce, President – Civil Aerospace, commented: “We are working closely with our customers to minimise any operational impact of these inspections and we deeply appreciate their continued co-operation. We remain absolutely committed to eliminating this issue from the Trent 1000 fleet.”
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