Page 14 - AAA MARCH - APRIL 2018 Online Magazine

INTERVIEW: PRATT & WHITNEY

ON TOP Q&A

OF IT

Palash Roy Chowdhury,
Managing Director - India,
Pratt & Whitney

The Federal Aviation Association
(FAA) and European Aviation
Safety Agency (EASA)
have issued an Emergency
Airworthiness Directive (AD) for
the A320neo family, powered by
Pratt & Whitney’s PW1127G-JM,
PW1127GA-JM, PW1130G-JM,
PW1133G-JM, or PW1133GA-JM
engines, after several occurrences
of engine In-Flight Shut-Down
(IFSD) and Rejected Take-Off on
certain Airbus A320neo family A320neo aircraft.
aeroplanes were reported. While In an exclusive interview to AAA: Have you detailed any
investigations are ongoing to Jay Menon, Deputy Editor of plans to fix the problems?
determine the root cause, pre- Asian Airlines and Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney has released a
liminary findings indicate that Chowdhury says, “Pratt & revised configuration as a solu-
the affected engines, which have Whitney has begun implement- tion to the issue relating to a knife
high pressure compressor aft hub ing this solution and production edge seal on the High Pressure
modification on them, are more engine deliveries incorporating Compressor (HPC) aft hub which
susceptible to IFSD. Airbus says this change began early March.” affected a limited subpopulation
there are 113 Pratt & Whitney- Excerpts from the interview: of the PW1100G-JM engine that
powered A320neo aircraft flying powers the Airbus A320neo air-
with 18 customers. Industry AAA: Please comment on the craft. The solution is based on a
sources say that several A320neo restrictions imposed by EASA design with which the company
aircraft have been grounded by on A320neo operations over has significant experience, and
airlines, including a total of 11 by concerns of potential dual this solution has received all nec-
India’s private carriers IndiGo, and engine in flight shutdown: essary regulatory approvals.
GoAir. Pratt & Whitney implemented an
engineering change in mid-2017 AAA: When do you plan to incor-
Palash Roy Chowdhury, that was intended to improve the porate this?
Managing Director - India, Pratt durability of the knife edge seal Pratt & Whitney has begun
& Whitney, says the company has for PW1100G-JM engine. Engines implementing this solution and
released a revised configuration that incorporated this engineering production engine deliveries
as a solution to the issue relating change entered revenue service incorporating this change will
to a knife edge seal on the High on customer aircraft beginning in begin in early March.
Pressure Compressor (HPC) aft December 2017. In late January
hub that affected a limited sub- and early February of this year, AAA: Could you give a number
population of the PW1100G-JM four of these modified engines did of the impacted engines?
engine that powers the Airbus not perform as anticipated. The current population of

14 | March/April 2018 www.GBP.com.sg/AAA