General Electric Company (NYSE:GE) under the radar for faults with jet engines

General Electric Company(NYSE:GE) may be the world’s biggest jet engine maker, but it has been inviting raised eyebrows to itself after it ordered for a series of inspections of the GEnx engines. On Thursday, the company issues a directive to Boeing Co jets, asking them to check up on the installation of a turbine part. They asked the company to check if the part was installed correctly. This directive came after one of the Boeing 747-8 freighters had its engine fail in Shanghai last month.

GE asked the company to check if the low-pressure turbine stage-one nozzle was installed correctly. The nozzle is used for directing air into the low-pressure rotating turbine blades. And it is situated towards the rear of the engine. This is the second directive which General Electronics had issued. The first one had been issued on Tuesday, when the company had asked for a check-up of the turbine engine.

These inspections being requested by General Electronics is probably the result of what happened on the 11^th of September, 2012. On this date, one of the GEnx engines which had been installed into a 747-8 which was being operated by Air Bridge Cargo lost the trust during the take-off. This happened in Shanghai. The plan could not carry on, and it returned to the ramp. The engine of the plane was later replaced.

General Electronics said that their operators have been inspecting the engines meticulously, and they have been ordered to give them hour-long inspections. However, no further faults have been found in any of them, as of yet. However, the company also made it clear that they are not always asking for inspections, and that they are sure of no further faults occurring.

National Transportation Safety Board got one of its public affairs director to examine the situation, and the director, Kelly Nantel said that the low pressure turbine hardware was what had prevented the flight from taking off at Shanghai. However, she did add the fact that the errors were minor, and that there have been no further faults detected in the engines. Inspections are made mandatory by the U.S Federal Aviation Administration. These inspections take place every 90 days.