Sir - Further to my letters "Solving problems in development" and "Development problems continue" (Flight International, 7-13 February, P44 and 13-19 March, P37), I note a statement in the June issue of the Royal Aeronautical Society journal which says that following two uncontained compressor-disc failures in General Electric CF6-50s, the US National Transportation Safety Board has told the US Federal Aviation Administration that its suggested 3,500-cycle inspection period is insufficient to ensure detection of "dwell-time "cracks.
These failures, irrespective of the finally agreed time between inspections, could involve early removal and inspection of some 4,100 engines worldwide, modification to the rotors and improved containment capability, provided by the engine manufacturer.
It is clear that large sums of money will be involved - so, who pays? I suspect that, in the long run, it will be the passenger.
D F NEWLAND
Watford, Hertfordshire, UK
Source: Flight International
