UAL pilots warn of recent engine troubles

(Crain’s) — United Airlines’ pilots have alerted the Federal Aviation Administration to engine problems on 737s that have caused emergency landings in the past two weeks.

In letter to the FAA on Wednesday, Air Line Pilots Assn. Chairman Stephen Wallach says there have been four instances of engine failures or compressor stalls in engines on 737s shortly after takeoff, requiring emergency landings.

United’s assistant chief pilot, Edward Stevens, sent a message to United pilots Aug. 1 noting that there had been two compressor stalls and one engine failure that had occurred both after takeoffs and at altitudes ranging from 400 to 7,000 feet. He advised pilots to be prepared to use emergency landing skills practiced on flight simulators. A fourth incident happened Aug. 3 after a takeoff from Kansas City, according to the letter from ALPA to the FAA.

The union says two of the stalls occurred in older engines that were recently put back on the 737s ahead of their return to leasing companies. United says only one of the engine changes involved a plane that will be returned to a leasing company and that the engine involved was less than two years old.

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“It may be coincidental, but maintenance standards appear to have deteriorated at United as operational decisions are increasingly driven by economic considerations,” Mr. Wallach wrote to the FAA. In a letter to pilots, ALPA criticized increased outsourcing of maintenance work by the airline.

United dismissed the allegation. “There is nothing more important than the safety of our employees and customers, and it is unconscionable and intentionally misleading for ALPA to suggest otherwise; our engine performance and maintenance requirements exceed all federal safety standards,” the company said in a statement. “All of this engine maintenance is performed by our dedicated and highly competent employees in San Francisco, and is held to our own very high safety standards and those of the FAA.”

The FAA did not return calls seeking comment Friday.

The pilots and UAL management have had an increasingly testy relationship, with disputes over pay and work rules.

A veteran United pilot who declined to be named because of company policy said the number of engine problems requiring emergency landing is “very concerning.”

“There has been a significant spike in the engine-failure rate that is unacceptable,” he said.

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Fonte: Flight Safety Information 12/08/2008.