Toulouse, France - Flight safety investigators and experts are still working to determine the main reason of a fan-blade fracture that caused an Air France Airbus A380 to suffer engine failure in midair.
On March 10, 2019, One of the engines of an Air France Airbus A380 was shut down due to the compressor blade fracture. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said the reason for the fracture remains unknown.
The agency issued an interim directive requiring further precautionary action for the GP7200 engines powering the Airbus's superjumbos.
With this directive, the A380 Operators are required to conduct checks on GP7200-powered A380s with certain blades fitted.
After an analysis of these fractures, the manufacturer determined the fan blades experienced cracks that originated on the internal surface of the convex airfoil and propagated to the point of failure,
said the FAA.
The cracks originated in a microtexture area that can result in a low-cycle fatigue debit that may allow a crack to initiate and propagate to failure.
Air France had already suffered a serious engine failure on one of its A380s while flying over Greenland in September 2017.