Thousands of Boeing 737s in Danger of Engine Failure Warns FAA

The FAA has issued an emergency Airworthiness Directive (AD) after four recent reports of single-engine shutdowns due to engine bleed air 5th stage check valves being stuck open.

The emergency AD (2020-16-51) has been sent to owners and operators of U.S.-registered Boeing 737-300, -400, -500, -600, -700, -700C, -800, -900, and -900ER series airplanes. Around 2,000 aircraft need to be inspected.

The FAA explains the problem in the emergency AD as, "Corrosion of the engine bleed air 5th stage check valve internal parts during airplane storage may cause the valve to stick in the open position. If this valve opens normally at takeoff power, it may become stuck in the open position during flight and fail to close when power is reduced at top of descent, resulting in an unrecoverable compressor stall and the inability to restart the engine. Corrosion of these valves on both engines could result in a dual-engine power loss without the ability to restart. This condition, if not addressed, could result in compressor stalls and dual-engine power loss without the ability to restart, which could result in a forced off-airport landing."

Airlines have been ordered to inspect any of the aforementioned aircraft that have been unused for 7 or more consecutive days.

The FAA has not given any further details of the four recent reports, one of which is believed to be an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) to Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (ASU) in Texas on 15 July in which the left engine of the Boeing 737 failed as the aircraft was coming in to land. The plane managed to land safely and nobody was hurt. The CFM56 engine was later replaced.

The emergency AD is available in .pdf format here.

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