Japan Grounds All Boeing 777 Planes After Engine Fire in Denver
CNN is reporting that the Japanese government has ordered its domestic airlines to ground all Boeing 777 planes, in response to an incident on Saturday where the engine on a Boeing 777 caught fire shortly after takeoff from Denver International Airport.
United Airlines Flight 328 experienced a failure of the right engine and quickly returned to the airport, leaving a roughly one-mile long trail of debris in a nearby residential neighborhood. Fortunately, no one was injured in the plane or on the ground.
The incident is still under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). In the past, the NTSB has warned airlines regarding the maintenance and inspection of the fan blades on the Pratt & Whitney engines used on the Boeing 777, although the precise cause of the incident in Denver has not yet been determined.
Japan’s order affects an estimated two dozen Boeing 777 planes operated by the domestic airline companies there.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has ordered new inspections on all American Boeing 777s that use the Pratt & Whitney engine, and has said that they may take some out of service, according to CNN.
Watch the video above, via CNN.
This is a breaking story and has been updated.