Operators of Boeing 787s with Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines will be ordered to carry out repetitive inspections of rotor seals following a recent aborted take-off.
The problem which sparked the low-speed abort, which occurred at around 60-65kt, has been traced to failure and release of rotor seals on the intermediate-pressure compressor.
Rolls-Royce subsequently confirmed that other similar seals had been discovered to have cracking at the seal head.
The engine manufacturer published a service bulletin containing inspection instructions for the affected powerplants, says the European Aviation Safety Agency.
EASA is proposing a regime of repetitive on-wing borescope inspections and corrective actions based on the compliance times specified in the bulletin.
Its proposed directive will remain open for consultation until 29 December.
While EASA's proposal does not specifically detail the abort incident, an All Nippon Airways 787-8 halted its take-off roll at Tokyo Narita on 14 August after a failure in its left Trent 1000 engine. The incident prompted extensive checks across the carrier's 787 fleet.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
