I was responsible for the fan blade out test for the Honeywell International engines TFE731 -5 (small corporate aircraft) and I can an attest to the bump you get in the the containment ring after the fan lets go. We had the nose section of the cowling since it was directly attached to a engine flange on the containment ring and we were required to have it installed for the test. The moment the fan blade separated we had 500 fps speed cameras on the fan assembly. The blade actually broke in half with the upper part exiting the front of the engine without any damage but the lower blade part fell back into the fan duct of the engine and exited out the back of the fan duct. The interesting thing, and unexpected event, was a bulge that appeared in the containment ring and that bulge rotated around the ring a fan speed. The bulge sheared the bolts holding the nose cowling to the engine and as the bulge rotated through one revolution it shear every attachment bolt and the cowling fell off the engine. The engine continued to run for the requried 15 seconds and was shutdown. I can tell you it was heart stopping for those 15 seconds. There were about 20 people at the test and everyone of us was dumbstruck for those 15 seconds and I remember yelling to the engine operations to shut the engine shut because we when well past the 15 seconds before anyone had sense enough to shut the engine down. We passed the containment test but I always wondered what really would happen on a aricraft. To my knowledge, the TFE71-5 has never suffered a fan blde separation even when the fan was struck by three 3 lb chickens in rapid succession. How we manged to get all those high speed cameras (8 of them, 500fps and 5000fps) to record that event at the requried 104% fan speed is a story in itself.
Honeywell is fine with you sharing this information ? , they are so paranoid about everything .... They will add you more courses on the Learning hub now LOL
Interesting about the 'bird test'. I remember seeing an infamous failure when the 'bird' used was mistakenly taken straight from the deep-freeze and not thawed out, so instead of an oven-ready turkey hitting the engine, a solid block of ice - effectively a cannon ball - was fired into it at several hundred miles per hour. There were no survivors.
At 8:38 Juan mentions rather casually that, “remember on these big planes you can’t see the engines from the cockpit.“ Now how stupid are the designers of these planes not to have a camera system so you can see the front angle and back angle of the engines with video cameras embedded in the fuselage. Are there any intelligent engineers out there designing airliners? In this story alone we find out that the goddamn pilots didn’t even know the engineer failed for a minute or so, because they couldn’t see the goddamn thing in the instruments all froze up. Is this not the stupidest industry in the world? We need a new generation of designers and engineers that have some common sense!!!
@@steveperreira5850 Just as a hypothesis, maybe the designers by and large aren't incredibly stupid, and maybe there is a bit more to it than supergluing a Gopro mount to the cabin window. Why doesn't your car have cameras looking fore and aft at each of the four tires? After all tires blow, and when that happens to a front tire and you are busy texting, you are going to end up in the ditch. That is a really serious event that could happen just anytime, and you can't see the tires from the driver's seat. Shouldn't you have cameras on your tires?
In all my years of flying I only had two jet engine failures. One at altitude in a Lear 35 and the other was on take off in a BAC 1-11. The Lear had a fan reduction gearbox bearing failure, the BAC had a HP fuel pump failure which fodded out the fuel control. That’s in 22k hours of flying. I consider myself lucky as that was it as far as engine failures. Now that I’m retired I don’t worry about engine failures as I once did, Keep up the great informative work.
I really appreciate the way you talk to people who don’t know what you know and may have difficulty understanding it all.. You explain everything with great patience and eloquence. In the morning, when I see which of my subscriptions has a new entry, I go to yours first. Keep up the outstanding work.
I work for a company that makes internal parts for many engine plants and the parts we make "Keep the engine cool". We take what we do very serious because before Covid there were thousands of people in the air everyday. Every time I hear about a engine failure I always want to know is it internal or external. The part you were talking about the fan blades having so few inspectors is a very real world with a lot of manufactures. People don't realize that before Covid I would bet everyday those inspectors heard this "We have planes on the ground, we need these done in quick manner". Love you channel man!!!!
Thank you for all your reporting, going back to the Oroville Reservoir and Camp Fire. It's great to hear details from someone who knows what they are talking about. And YES! Please make a video of Pete's presentation. I'm sure we all want to see him.
I am not a jet mechanic or a blade inspector. But Infrared Cameras are my career. So.... I will take an educated guess as to why you will have a paint layer. The problem is that the reflectivity of metals are quite high. As a consequence, the "emissivity" is quite low. This means that the thermal signal that the camera is trying to see is VERY low. Now I dont know the numbers for titanium, but aluminum foil is about 98-99% reflective in the IR. Thefore, the emissivity is only about 1-2%. So....simply spray on a THIN coat of "black" paint that will be about 95% emissive and magically you get 50 to 90 times the signal or "contrast". Hope this makes sense... Great channel, Thanks for all you do. Cheers Kevin Hanna
Hi Ju an. (Hi in Ireland means hello). I have followed your channel for quite a while but only now discovered that you are an aero mechanic if not a get one. This goes a long way in explaining why your coverage is so detailed and still clear to non experts like myself and I suspect, most of your viewers. When it comes to this type of channel you are in a league of your own. I'm 75 now and in my essay for the mid high school exam in 1961 I predicted the moon landing. Thank you for your brilliant work You have reduced the effect of covid for so many like me.
Superb job Juan. I wonder why 1175 had the attitude upset, where 328 apparently did not. Perhaps on 1175 the TAC (Thrust Asymmetry Computer) failed to boot in the rudder with the loss of FADEC N1 signals but maybe on 328 the TAC managed the yaw event like its designed to do. From the ground shot of 328, it looks like there was no upset at all (which is what I'd expect), even though it was probably operating at a higher IAS than 1175 when things let go.
Lt. Pete! "A plus". That is what all of us thought! I would really enjoy seeing his presentation on the Wright Brothers. What a cool kid! Well done Juan.
Another excellent presentation Sir! I retired from light aviation 8 yrs ago and feel like i have gone back to school since finding this channel, and boy i am enjoying my re education by this teacher!
The Capt gets props for having his team prepared for an emergency that's rarely seen. Also, I've always admired your ability to explain complex concepts so what's needed to know is very clear. As always, Thanks JB
Juan, great work. As a retired metallurgist I am very familiar with fatigue fractures, but have no experience with TAI. The biggest concern I have is how small a fatigue crack can they detect. Once there is a crack formed, it will continue to grow as long as the part is subjected to those oscillating stresses. They always start at some sort of defect in the material be it an inclusion in the metal or a mechanically induced nick on the surface. External fatigue cracks are prevented by shot peening which is a standard process used on the root area of almost all compressor blades. Years ago working at TRW one of my responsibilities was testing the degree of peening that applied to compressor blades and examining the shot media (glass beads and steel shot) for broken bead content. Thanks again, looking forward to more from blancolirio.
Hi Juan. I worked in Hot Isostic Press facility in Portland in the 80s and processed both Compressor and hotzone components and blades. Titanium, Inconell and Stellite. Precision Castparts investment cast them then we processed them in the pressure vessel. Eliminated porosity and provided a controlled heat treat and grain growth as specified. Fun stuff. Learned a lot there.
@@OgamiItto70 th-cam.com/video/D606YhPN7R0/w-d-xo.html www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Jet-Engine.html the first link shows a infotainment version .. the second link shows a bit more in depth...notice the distinction between manufacturing processing between fan blades and compressor/turbine blades .
Can someone be an excellent instructor plus an experienced pilot plus an NTSB investigator plus someone who can transform all this knowledge into easy-to-understand language? Though Juan is not all of the above officially together he could easily be this one. Always amazing to listen to you, Sir!
Thanks Juan! That's crazy cool hauling groceries in an airplane. Makes sense with produce given the short fresh life, fresh Atlantic Salmon for the backhaul. Curious and interesting 1175 and 328 lose the same engine same amount of fan blades, a single ejection in both. Happy thing is everyone got back on tera firma safely.
I got it figured out. It all started when the last old guy who knew how to use a Magneflux machine retired. Not a single fan blade has been inspected since.
@@steveholton4130 Magnaflux is a company name. Among other things, they make a couple types of fluids: magnetic particle inspection (MPI) and fluorescent penetrant inspection (FPI). To answer your question, mag particle would NOT work, but FPI would.
@@Errror404 Thanks for the straight answer. I believe that Magnaflux invented MPI so back in the day (1960s) when you took your racing engine to a shop to have it MPId, it was called magnafluxing because they provided the technology and the equipment.
Super reporting as always. I'm retired from 31 years of corporate flying; I always learn something new from your analysis and discussion. You're the man I can always depend upon to give the relevant and clearly explained information. Even my wife understands and enjoys your reporting. Two thumbs up from us!
NDT takes me back to my time in avionics with Marconi. Most of our testing was simply vibration tests on LRU's at levels beyond what was expected of the airframe to ensure security of internal cabling/connectors and seating of circuit boards. This TAI is obviously much more involved than that, those inspection guys have an interesting job. Thanks also for further info regarding ETOPS, so much to take into consideration when adjusting for one engine out. Thanks as ever for the clear explanations Juan, Incidentally I looked for some Californian asparagus but my local supermarket only had Mexican!
Inspecting hollow titanium fan blades for in-service fatigue cracking on interior surfaces is an extreme challenge for any nondestructive evaluation method. These micro-cracks (discontinuities) might not reflect enough ultrasound energy to be detected by conventional ultrasonic methods. Thermal acoustic imaging tries to cause the discontinuity to generate a thermal signal by causing the sides of the discontinuity to rub together thereby generating heat. An infrared imaging device then attempts to detect this weak thermal signal. Surface emissivity and just knowing where to look are big issues to overcome. Probably the greatest issue of all is creating meaningful standards that simulate actual defect conditions to calibrate and certify the test method. The hollow blade may need to be stressed during testing to simulate operating load conditions.
@@richardpeugeot9143 Yes, I've been musing over this...taking a light read on how engine cowls are "tested" for the containment and excursion risk, engines are intentionally forced into failure on static stands. There are no aerodynamic loads conducted to see the effects for rating these cowls for real world conditions. I think that is probably going to be the next step for researches to lend some new test experiments ...in a mach windtunnel, and then see how these cowls manage fan blade and HPT blade and disk failure. That's probably where they are focused for nextgen designs...It's just common sense to look at how the cowls operate in these failures at high aerodynamic loading. then, also musing...the very thing you were talking about wrt TAI inspections/testing. I would imagine there is a certain amount of fatigue permissible...but these tests are being performed when the blades are NOT under the same kind of real world loads. I am certain the scientists have modeled and tested and re-tested what that permissible test value can be or what a rejection threshold is. But it stands to reason, just as in the static engine failure example above, one might be looking at how to re-create aerodynamic stresses on the fan blade and then conduct the test. How to accomplish this would be an engineering challenge, but not a technologically impossibility. For instance, one could induce a apparent load on the fan blade simply by changing the thermal state of the target...and then dynamically altering this thermal delta rapidly, while testing the most common areas where a stress is likely to result in failure... It would be a challenge, but I think this is probably going to move some needles about how to best innovate toward a better test regime.
@@tdmmcl1532 TAI or any nondestructive inspection method is meaningless without standards that simulate the discontinuity of interest in the areas of interest to qualify and calibrate the nondestructive inspection method. The calibration standards must be able to be duplicated so that the blade manufacturers as well as those doing in-service inspection are working from the same page. All metallurgy has discontinuities at some level. But when does a discontinuity become a rejectable defect? Some parts are designed with no thought given as to how they are to be nondestructively evaluated to determine the end of service life. Sometimes critical components that cannot be reliably evaluated nondestructively are life limited and must be retired at a certain point in the service life. This may be the case with these large diameter fans using hollow titanium blades that are difficult if not impossible to reliably inspect in a cost-effective manner. It may be cheaper to just replace the blade. The long term solution is to turn these large fans at a lower RPM as in a geared engine and design the blades in such a manner that they can be nondestructively evaluated. Quality has to be designed in from the beginning. Quality cannot be inspected in!
@@richardpeugeot9143 my understanding is that these fan blade ARE designed with DNI technologies "in mind" and so have both limited life AND permissible discontinuity AND rejection values. And the manufacturing process QC and the maintenance DNI QC technologies are essentially equivalent...Adequate to make correlations that are valuable for both ways improvements and feedback. I think the weak area, is that in testing, as you mentioned, the target is not being subjected to loads...and so one might be missing an important part of the total picture with respect to micro-defects, or fatigue. I think broadly, this is the case with many of the inspections...But obviously this takes in a much more significant consideration wrt to engines for obvious reasons. Even with current regimes, it's obvious to me reading former NTSB recommendations that DNI operators are not entirely consistent with the documented established practice. As with any technology, things can get very out of control, if the process isn't followed properly or errors go unnoticed and unattended. I suspect the entire regime is going to get another close look...as it should.. the day that this industry refuses to learn how to innovate from experience, I'll hand my hat up and shoot the horse.
@@tdmmcl1532 So often NDI methods are evaluated under laboratory conditions that don't fully simulate the real world condition these fan blades experience. Sometimes it is very challenging to take an NDI method out of the lab and apply it on the factory floor and also under "in service" conditions. How much thought was given to the creation of realistic fatigue crack standards for the hollow blade geometry?
OKAY JUAN ! Cat's out of the bag dad ! Would absolutely LOVE to have Pete give his Orville and Wilbur Wright report ! What an honor that would be ! When ( and if ) you might be able to talk Pete into it, please give us a heads up when we can expect to see his report Juan ! Have a pretty good idea that there are a number of us that would enjoy that very much ! Again, thanks for your videos Juan ! Your in-depth reporting style gives us an insight into these events that we would never see otherwise !
I have been watching this channel for the last year…….. I have learned so much about flying and it’s mechanics and everything that goes in to being a pilot. Hats off to you and your colleagues sir, thank you for making flying the safest mode of transportation. BTW I am an emergency medical doctor….. flying to different locations all the time…
At first I was thinking they would be listening for a certain frequency in return to check for cracks. Instead of heat, sound. Silly me. Thanks for a good report 🙂 Welcome home, enjoy some salmon!
The first 8 years of my military/A&P/IA career was on turbine engines, then I went the GA route and now out of aviation. Nearly 40 years wrenching airplanes large and small, fast and slow. The time spent as a jet mechanic was in the late 70s into the 80s and all on one engine the J52 or known in the civilian world the JT8. A turbo jet not a fan. So this engine is out of my wheelhouse. It is amazing to me what the metallurgist have done. I am not familiar with this test. NDI and NDT yes but not this test. Thank you for the update and pictures, they really do speak a thousand words.
Thanks for this channel and taking the time and patience to explain all of this to us from your professional inside experience. I was very excited to take my first 777 hop two weeks ago. It was United to Denver. Now, I’m not so excited.
Juan, great summary of the blade failures! Thank you for digesting the a available information and presenting it to us in an understandable nature. I'm not knowledgeable in TAI but it is likely that they paint th ed blades to give them a highly controlled emissivity. If you point an IR temperature sensor at bare metal it can give a very inaccurate response. A paint with known emissivity allows accurate temperature profiles to be measured.
Thanks for a tech briefing on a very complicated technical subject. Early in my aviation career, (50 years ago) I lost almost 14" off a prop in a Cessna 310. As the engine mounts on this port engine started to fail the whole engine/prop/cowling started torquing towards the aircraft center line. I got the engine shutdown and prop feather before the remaining prop started to eat me and the cockpit. I was trembling when I dismounted the aircraft. Thanks for the clearly laid out explanation. Things go south in a hurry at these RPM's.
You imply in your commentary that the use of color imaging would be better than black and white because black-and-white means it's older equipment. Having worked in thermal imaging for 20 years, I can tell you that the use of pseudo-color is not an aid. The color is not generated by the imaging equipment, it is an artifact assigned by a computer to an image through a lookup table. Hence it is pseudo-color and not a real color image. The color often obscures information as you no longer have a uniform scale from black to white to evaluate. Instead, you have to attempt to interpolate what a specific color means, and often the color assignments by the computer are not smooth transitions between temperatures. This is why medical X-ray images are still presented to doctors in black and white even though the images are now created through electronic imaging and not film. The use of black-and-white is far better in presenting data as it removes a distraction (color) from the interpretation of the image.
Not as technical, but, boroscope technology, while able to take measurements and record in incredible detail, has remained greyscale for much the same reason.
Plus Pixel size. 3 Pixels are "wasted" for 3 colors when trying to see the smallest of details. A tiny crack can be obscured because of the color. B&W gives you a smooth gradient from Black to white to see changes in density. It is also why Astrophotography (think Hubble) uses "false color" to get as much imaging detail as possible at a given resolution and pixel size of the imaging chip array.
@@gnuspudguns Actually I use a full color borescope for diagnostic purposes and so do several other industrial repair shops in the area. If we convert it to digital then it is saved as a B&W (greyscale) image.
@@JeffCounsil-rp4qv True, but with the advent of the 128 megapixel cmos imager there is now sufficient detail even under 1000x to do both true color and greyscale. Things have advanced many fold since the Hubble Telescope was launched.
Juan, you explain things in a GREAT manner, im a bit of a techie, computers, gear head, cars, planes cant manage flight sim, so i appreciate and look forward to your vids, thank you sir.
I was waiting for you to say 'drift down'. In another life i dispatched DC9's domestically over the mountains and we had to have drift down altitudes and alternates specified.
Thank you for creating this video to update the public about what happens with airplanes & pilots in emergencies. All I know is your pilot is the most important part of your flight. Use airlines that encourage their pilots to be up to date on their training.
I know everyone is saying it but I need to add to the chorus; this is the only place I go for aviation related news and incident reports. No BS, no hype... fact and analysis presented in a calm and reasoned manner.
Great Job Juan, Just a thought, I do Infrared testing for Coca-Cola, and we have to put a tape or coating on any shiny surface that you want to measure the radiating IR energy from (temp). The more reflective the surface, the less accurate the measurement. We calibrate against something called a Black Body, which looks like a badly burnt piece of toast. No reflectivity what do ever. (Perfect Emissivity properties)There is theory and equations for all this, but I know your a KISS kind of person. If you want the tech details, let me know. Looking forward to meeting you and Dan at Sun n Fun in April. Love you guys! Sincerly, Steve Meschke.
@18:00, this is a long term issue @ UTC, Training. Never enough time for training, plenty of time for retraining after an incident. UTC Aero then being Pratt, Hamilton Sundstrand, Sikorsky and Nordan. I’m happy that my division got sold.
Thanks for the update on TAI. We’re starting to use CAT Scan technology to inspect wall thickness on hollow HP Turbine blades now too as we’re starting to run into life limiting conditions after decades of repair cycles where removal and re-application of the diffused aluminide coatings takes away 0.001 or 0.002 of parent material each time.
Infrared thermometers are calibrated by pointing them at a temperature-controlled disk called a “black body”. The disk’s black coating prevents reflections and hot spots that would affect the apparent temperature of the surface. So if they’re looking for minuscule temperature differences, it would make sense that they would apply a non-reflective insulating coating before running the test..
Blackness of a body relates simply to the IR emissivity vs temp- it's the max possible. One way to replicate that is to have a small opening into a cavity in the object. The IR intensity out of that opening will be that of a black body at that temp. Typical hand-held IR thermometers are set to assume that all radiating bodies have
An absolutely fascinating & excellent video from you Juan. We had a zoom meeting with your counterpart at Mentour pilot who also had released a tech video on UA328. He praised your coverage on this channel & i for one would fully agree. Glad you had a safe return with all that salmon. Thanks for all your content.
I still sometimes look at planes and think it's incredible that never mind it takes off and lands, but that it can (usually) move mass numbers of people, quickly, and efficiently. Then this has made it even more mind blowing that the fan blades can snap off mid flight and not take out the plane with all those people. Incredible. Then we talk about Asparagus coming to the UK, and us sending Salmon back over. Salmon and asparagus, shame their paths never crossed, they go well together! Thanks again for going over it all for us.
"Salmon and asparagus, shame their paths never crossed, they go well together! " With Juan flying, both sides of the pond get to enjoy the combination.
Juan, I thank you for the single engine drift down and ETPS planning information I am a retired airline a&p and r&e mechanic and I am not a pilot but I found the information very interesting and informative.
Great as always thanks Juan. I have to admit I’d never thought about the very significant extra drag in such a scenario, (ie: blade failure causing cowl failure and departure) and the effect it would have if you had a failure right AT your engine out decision point- (we call it DP1) - that wouldn’t be great, and could theoretically perhaps even force a ditching due to insufficient fuel.
Great video again Juan! I myself every morning walk by the powerplant dept and look at a GE CF 34 on the assembly line. You will notice the Challenger 600 series and a10 sound the same! 😉 Core engine shows up and they install the cowling designed and made by Canadair now Bombardier. Cowling , doors, thrust reversers etc have to be designed and certified by transport Canada, faa, easa requirements etc. I myself back in the day would inpect skin panel doublers via ultrasonic inspection looking for voids in between the skins. I was also inspector for composite dept. As you mention the tap testing, I still have my little hammer.
Interesting to hear what you've been hauling. Thanks for transporting Salmon from the UK to the USA, means a lot at the moment while the EU are playing silly buggers! 👍
I strongly suspect that the salmon is in fact farmed Scottish salmon.... Dont be fooled by the hype! PS I live near one of their farms and we dont like it, not one bit, the farm, the environmental effect, the product.
@@rickhopkins3863 Fear not, the salmon farms are in the sea,while distilleries use closely guarded springs. Where Scots get drinking water? Mostly out of a whiskey bottle.
I love how well you explain the details to the level of understanding that matches my intellect, and allows me to duplicate you all along. Extremely well done !!! Aarre Peltomaa of Mississauga, Ontario p.s. The only thing that we are missing, is why the the fracture occur in the first place, and I didn't know what was meant by the word 'ratchet', when referring to the crack.
Excellent review and a thought provoking discussion. The flight crew has "drift down charts" based on the loss of an engine at altitude. These charts show the altitude that can be maintained on a single engine. Most folks don't realize that above about 25000 ft altitude that the aircraft's true airspeed will actually slow down at a given mach number. This is because the ambient air cools (adiabatic rate) at the rate of 2 degrees per thousand. The speed of sound is a function of air temperature, and actually slows down as the air cools. Jet aircraft normally cruise at a percentage of the speed of sound, so mach .80 would be 80% of that speed. Above the tropopause, (35000-40000) the air no longer cools at the adiabatic rate. This is also the altitude where the prevailing winds tend to drop off. The primary reason for flying a jet aircraft at those higher altitudes is to take advantage of the thinner air density, which creates less drag, and therefore greater fuel savings, reducing costs while extending range. A second consideration would be to fly above the tropopause where the headwinds would be much lighter.
Nice shot of the Greenland mainland. We always flew to LAX in the late afternoon and usually tracked up by Thule about 77 North so really only saw Greenland in twilight but managed to witness the sun rising from the west and then the subsequent double sunset. We carry a 5% contingency of the EDTO fuel to cover any drag issues with airframe or engine damage. It will be interesting to see what fuel burn difference from the planned v actual.
When I operated a thermal heat tester, it will not give accurate readings off of a shiny metal surface. Wouldn't surprise me if they use a flat 18 percent grey.
Fantastic. Thanks again. Quality research and well presented. This is priceless knowledge. A million hours in the same rote sim scenarios simply can't prepare you for dynamic events and the millions of variables in each failure.
As the parent of a son who is starting aviation school this fall, this channel is definitely in my TH-cam aviation-related rotation. Great informative video as always. Thank you
Brilliant update as always, thanks Juan...and shoot for an A Pete, with your dad's aviation knowledge, I'm sure you'll be picking it up too 😁😁😁😁. Cheers from Aus!!!!
Great video Juan. Watched Your flight home last night on Flightradar 24. Was hoping it would go over Dublin but saw it routed up through England and Scotland. Keep up the good work! Cheers Will. ✈✈👍👍
Interesting. Sounds like fun to track Juan’s flights but I don’t know anything about Flightradar24. I know Juan flies the B777 but don’t you need a departure airport, time, airline, flight#, etc?🤔
Hi Gwiyomi, it's just a matter of knowing the aircraft route to put into Fr24 and it will give you all the information you need on the scheduled flights for that route. Best wishes Will!
I’ll try it. Now that I think about it Juan provided a good deal of info regarding his round trip asparagus/salmon flight with London stopover. Thanks for the info!🤗
Mr Juan thank you for all your videos , time and expertise . I’m a G.A . Flight school mechanic at a flight school . I find these reports helpful. Thank you.
So, this is just me spitballing here, but I think that the paint for TAI is to help with emissivity for thermal imaging - in order to get an accurate reading form thermal imaging, you gotta radiate like a blackbody, not shiny metal.
I am impressed with the improvements in NDT / imaging technology. Back in the day.... we had LPI, MPI, and X-rays. In the end we sometimes had to resort to destructive testing. The trick then was to determine sample size and the risk of missing a defect versus the cost of destroying perfectly good blades. As to the development of testing protocols they were often written by a qualified 3rd party for the exact reason you mentioned. In house subject matter experts did not have the time.
When ultrasound travels through materials with different properties, you get all kinds of reflections and noise. The paint helps transmit the ultrasound with minimal reflection, it has the same purpose as the gel they use when you get an ultrasound scan at the doctors.
Well. Since it's called "thermal" I'd assume they (also) look at the blade with an IR camera and (aka thermal camera), like one of the higher end FLIR models. Infrared waves are really light, just longer wavelength, and as all light, it reflects off shiny surfaces. E.g. you can't see through glass. Same with polished titanium, so they have to apply a mat black paint first. A piece of (masking)tape would do the same, but would be too hard to get applied uniform in corners and such. When I first heard of TAI, I thought they just added a controlled heat source to one end of the blade and watched how the heat spread out. The ultrasonic part explains the acoustic part.
That's the word Ultrasound...but correct me if I m wrong as this kind of inspection or another similar must be done in engines once an airplane reaches its thousands cycles of flying...cause it's know that after those thousands cycles parts of its structures suffer mainly from metal fatigue...
my limited understanding is that an enveloping material OF KNOWN properties allows the test results to establish clear and precise visual representation of the precise surface of the target. and because it tickles. and everyone knows that doctors and techs love to get a tickle in when they can. /s
I love hearing / seeing your activities (cross country MC riding, professional flights, civil aviation, your updates on the incidents, and sharing your pride and joy (Pete). You’re obviously a proud man, deservedly so.
Juan, parts that use a thermal gradiant inspection, typically get painted white for emissivity. The IR camera would then be able to get a good reading on the surface temperatures. NDI inspection requires numerous standards to verify the technique against. Pratt&Whitney would have to use something like Eddy current to identify a defect, then verify the results with the new technique. There are national accreditation organizations and certifications issued after training. Just like with inspectors that are mag particle, x-ray, penetrant inspection, Eddy current, and acoustic inspection.
Pratt and whitney is still a quality engine Manufacture no matter what anybody says. they've been at it a long and im sure they will get this sorted out. unfortunately this comes at a bad time for airlines. I'm sure they'll get to the root of the problem and continue as one of the major players in supplying power plants. Thanks Juan for keeping us well informed.
I wonder what the expected interval between the initiation of the crack that is detectable using TAI and propagation to blade failure is? Theoretically, your inspection interval would be some degree shorter than that. I'm guessing that really small cracks at thick sections of the blade are exceptionally hard to detect if it relies on some kind of friction. Deep in the root. Lots of material to dissipate the heat.
From the records of previous tests, it will be possible to calculate all that. Any seemingly intact blade that shows a crack is a data point for how big a crack can be before failure. For instance.. Lets say that you see many many blades with 0.1mm cracks, some with 0.2mm, a few with 0.3 and none with 0.4. Depending how careful you want to be you might let any with 0.1mm cracks go back into service. Then you can get an idea of how long it takes to go from 0.1 to 0.2
Thank each and every one of you for your service to begin with. Mr Brown you're taking over the world because the world loves you because you are great at what you do you have so much respect from so many people on so many different levels. Giving an immediate thumbs up for the algorithm. Love and respect
At Continental, our IROs were responsible for keeping the cockpit drink box and ice fully stocked. They also got the least desirable rest periods. Hey, but the pay was the same , right?
Juan you mentioned that when an engine is shut down, the remaining good engine is run at full power. The ETOPS certification for 180 minutes on one engine would have been tested and proven with new engines. But have the manufacturers run ETOPS tests on high hour engines say with 10,000 or more hours. Your explanations are clear and precise, great videos, thank you.
I was responsible for the fan blade out test for the Honeywell International engines TFE731 -5 (small corporate aircraft) and I can an attest to the bump you get in the the containment ring after the fan lets go. We had the nose section of the cowling since it was directly attached to a engine flange on the containment ring and we were required to have it installed for the test. The moment the fan blade separated we had 500 fps speed cameras on the fan assembly. The blade actually broke in half with the upper part exiting the front of the engine without any damage but the lower blade part fell back into the fan duct of the engine and exited out the back of the fan duct. The interesting thing, and unexpected event, was a bulge that appeared in the containment ring and that bulge rotated around the ring a fan speed. The bulge sheared the bolts holding the nose cowling to the engine and as the bulge rotated through one revolution it shear every attachment bolt and the cowling fell off the engine. The engine continued to run for the requried 15 seconds and was shutdown. I can tell you it was heart stopping for those 15 seconds. There were about 20 people at the test and everyone of us was dumbstruck for those 15 seconds and I remember yelling to the engine operations to shut the engine shut because we when well past the 15 seconds before anyone had sense enough to shut the engine down. We passed the containment test but I always wondered what really would happen on a aricraft. To my knowledge, the TFE71-5 has never suffered a fan blde separation even when the fan was struck by three 3 lb chickens in rapid succession. How we manged to get all those high speed cameras (8 of them, 500fps and 5000fps) to record that event at the requried 104% fan speed is a story in itself.
Honeywell is fine with you sharing this information ? , they are so paranoid about everything .... They will add you more courses on the Learning hub now LOL
Thank you for your service. You are an inspiration around the world. An ability you possess perhaps only comes with experience as one may expect
As a pilot and total aviation geek who did the power-plant part of an A&P I appreciate the detail :-)
I would love to hear the story about how the video shoot was done. Cool job.
Interesting about the 'bird test'. I remember seeing an infamous failure when the 'bird' used was mistakenly taken straight from the deep-freeze and not thawed out, so instead of an oven-ready turkey hitting the engine, a solid block of ice - effectively a cannon ball - was fired into it at several hundred miles per hour.
There were no survivors.
My favorite channel. No BS or hype.
Just the facts with a thoughtful analysis.
Thanks for all you do Juan!
Thanks Ronald!
At 8:38 Juan mentions rather casually that, “remember on these big planes you can’t see the engines from the cockpit.“ Now how stupid are the designers of these planes not to have a camera system so you can see the front angle and back angle of the engines with video cameras embedded in the fuselage. Are there any intelligent engineers out there designing airliners?
In this story alone we find out that the goddamn pilots didn’t even know the engineer failed for a minute or so, because they couldn’t see the goddamn thing in the instruments all froze up. Is this not the stupidest industry in the world?
We need a new generation of designers and engineers that have some common sense!!!
@@steveperreira5850 Just as a hypothesis, maybe the designers by and large aren't incredibly stupid, and maybe there is a bit more to it than supergluing a Gopro mount to the cabin window.
Why doesn't your car have cameras looking fore and aft at each of the four tires? After all tires blow, and when that happens to a front tire and you are busy texting, you are going to end up in the ditch. That is a really serious event that could happen just anytime, and you can't see the tires from the driver's seat. Shouldn't you have cameras on your tires?
@@lwilton LOL. Amen.
@@steveperreira5850 hi but ‘what’s COMMONSENSE”? It’s No longer common ! Cheers 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Juan's channel is exactly the kind of good thing we hoped the Internet would supply when it was ramping up. Thanks for the efforts!!
So true! Do you think Gates and Wozniak ever conceived the notion of how bad it could actually be? They must have? Lol
Exactly. Useful information from qualified people.
Instead we got Facebook and 4chan. 🤦♂️
@@danoberste8146 Ah, the glass is half empty...
The blancolirio channel is one of the best... no doubt.
In all my years of flying I only had two jet engine failures. One at altitude in a Lear 35 and the other was on take off in a BAC 1-11. The Lear had a fan reduction gearbox bearing failure, the BAC had a HP fuel pump failure which fodded out the fuel control. That’s in 22k hours of flying. I consider myself lucky as that was it as far as engine failures.
Now that I’m retired I don’t worry about engine failures as I once did,
Keep up the great informative work.
I really appreciate the way you talk to people who don’t know what you know and may have difficulty understanding it all.. You explain everything with great patience and eloquence. In the morning, when I see which of my subscriptions has a new entry, I go to yours first. Keep up the outstanding work.
I work for a company that makes internal parts for many engine plants and the parts we make "Keep the engine cool". We take what we do very serious because before Covid there were thousands of people in the air everyday. Every time I hear about a engine failure I always want to know is it internal or external. The part you were talking about the fan blades having so few inspectors is a very real world with a lot of manufactures. People don't realize that before Covid I would bet everyday those inspectors heard this "We have planes on the ground, we need these done in quick manner". Love you channel man!!!!
Thank you for all your reporting, going back to the Oroville Reservoir and Camp Fire. It's great to hear details from someone who knows what they are talking about. And YES! Please make a video of Pete's presentation. I'm sure we all want to see him.
I am not a jet mechanic or a blade inspector. But Infrared Cameras are my career. So.... I will take an educated guess as to why you will have a paint layer.
The problem is that the reflectivity of metals are quite high. As a consequence, the "emissivity" is quite low. This means that the thermal signal that the camera is trying to see is VERY low.
Now I dont know the numbers for titanium, but aluminum foil is about 98-99% reflective in the IR. Thefore, the emissivity is only about 1-2%.
So....simply spray on a THIN coat of "black" paint that will be about 95% emissive and magically you get 50 to 90 times the signal or "contrast".
Hope this makes sense...
Great channel,
Thanks for all you do.
Cheers
Kevin Hanna
Hi Ju an. (Hi in Ireland means hello). I have followed your channel for quite a while but only now discovered that you are an aero mechanic if not a get one. This goes a long way in explaining why your coverage is so detailed and still clear to non experts like myself and I suspect, most of your viewers. When it comes to this type of channel you are in a league of your own. I'm 75 now and in my essay for the mid high school exam in 1961 I predicted the moon landing. Thank you for your brilliant work You have reduced the effect of covid for so many like me.
Superb job Juan. I wonder why 1175 had the attitude upset, where 328 apparently did not. Perhaps on 1175 the TAC (Thrust Asymmetry Computer) failed to boot in the rudder with the loss of FADEC N1 signals but maybe on 328 the TAC managed the yaw event like its designed to do. From the ground shot of 328, it looks like there was no upset at all (which is what I'd expect), even though it was probably operating at a higher IAS than 1175 when things let go.
Lt. Pete! "A plus". That is what all of us thought! I would really enjoy seeing his presentation on the Wright Brothers.
What a cool kid! Well done Juan.
Another excellent presentation Sir!
I retired from light aviation 8 yrs ago and feel like i have gone back to school since finding this channel, and boy i am enjoying my re education by this teacher!
The Capt gets props for having his team prepared for an emergency that's rarely seen. Also, I've always admired your ability to explain complex concepts so what's needed to know is very clear. As always, Thanks JB
Since he’s a pilot who flies 777s I sure hope he doesn’t get props! 🤣
@@j2simpso - lol
Juan, great work. As a retired metallurgist I am very familiar with fatigue fractures, but have no experience with TAI. The biggest concern I have is how small a fatigue crack can they detect. Once there is a crack formed, it will continue to grow as long as the part is subjected to those oscillating stresses. They always start at some sort of defect in the material be it an inclusion in the metal or a mechanically induced nick on the surface. External fatigue cracks are prevented by shot peening which is a standard process used on the root area of almost all compressor blades. Years ago working at TRW one of my responsibilities was testing the degree of peening that applied to compressor blades and examining the shot media (glass beads and steel shot) for broken bead content.
Thanks again, looking forward to more from blancolirio.
Hi Juan. I worked in Hot Isostic Press facility in Portland in the 80s and processed both Compressor and hotzone components and blades. Titanium, Inconell and Stellite. Precision Castparts investment cast them then we processed them in the pressure vessel. Eliminated porosity and provided a controlled heat treat and grain growth as specified.
Fun stuff. Learned a lot there.
It's very fascinating stuff...would love to read more about how the sausage is made. "how its made" for wonky aerospace geeks...How I wish!
Question: How do you cast repeatable, precision voids (in titanium, no less) into long, compound-curved shapes like inlet fan blades?
Lost Wax and Lost Foam techniques. Provides really uniform parts. Usually a few thousandth proud and then milled mechanically or chemically to spec.
@@OgamiItto70 th-cam.com/video/D606YhPN7R0/w-d-xo.html
www.madehow.com/Volume-1/Jet-Engine.html
the first link shows a infotainment version ..
the second link shows a bit more in depth...notice the distinction between manufacturing processing between fan blades and compressor/turbine blades .
Internal voids not so much unless several pieces are welded together for the part.
Juan, wonderful picture of the captain being thanked by a passenger. One soul thanking another for guiding them safely. Beautiful.
Looking forward to Pete’s presentation!! :)
Can someone be an excellent instructor plus an experienced pilot plus an NTSB investigator plus someone who can transform all this knowledge into easy-to-understand language?
Though Juan is not all of the above officially together he could easily be this one.
Always amazing to listen to you, Sir!
Great job Juan. Love it. Retired AA pilot.
Thanks Juan!
That's crazy cool hauling groceries in an airplane.
Makes sense with produce given the short fresh life, fresh Atlantic Salmon for the backhaul.
Curious and interesting 1175 and 328 lose the same engine same amount of fan blades, a single ejection in both.
Happy thing is everyone got back on tera firma safely.
I got it figured out. It all started when the last old guy who knew how to use a Magneflux machine retired. Not a single fan blade has been inspected since.
Dumb question! Does Magnefluxing work on non ferrous metals??
@@steveholton4130 Magnaflux is a company name. Among other things, they make a couple types of fluids: magnetic particle inspection (MPI) and fluorescent penetrant inspection (FPI). To answer your question, mag particle would NOT work, but FPI would.
FPI would not work in the internal structure of the blade. FPI will only detect cracks on the surface. These blades are not solid structures.
@@Errror404 Thanks for the straight answer. I believe that Magnaflux invented MPI so back in the day (1960s) when you took your racing engine to a shop to have it MPId, it was called magnafluxing because they provided the technology and the equipment.
@@aaronbugaiski2487 Also, as I susspected!
Super reporting as always. I'm retired from 31 years of corporate flying; I always learn something new from your analysis and discussion. You're the man I can always depend upon to give the relevant and clearly explained information. Even my wife understands and enjoys your reporting. Two thumbs up from us!
Thanks Juan for your informed reporting so the non-pilot public can understand. Great communication skills!
NDT takes me back to my time in avionics with Marconi. Most of our testing was simply vibration tests on LRU's at levels beyond what was expected of the airframe to ensure security of internal cabling/connectors and seating of circuit boards. This TAI is obviously much more involved than that, those inspection guys have an interesting job. Thanks also for further info regarding ETOPS, so much to take into consideration when adjusting for one engine out. Thanks as ever for the clear explanations Juan,
Incidentally I looked for some Californian asparagus but my local supermarket only had Mexican!
Thanks for giving all of us an inside picture about what's going on. It's like Non-Destructive Imaging of the way these engines are built and flown.
Inspecting hollow titanium fan blades for in-service fatigue cracking on interior surfaces is an extreme challenge for any nondestructive evaluation method. These micro-cracks (discontinuities) might not reflect enough ultrasound energy to be detected by conventional ultrasonic methods. Thermal acoustic imaging tries to cause the discontinuity to generate a thermal signal by causing the sides of the discontinuity to rub together thereby generating heat. An infrared imaging device then attempts to detect this weak thermal signal. Surface emissivity and just knowing where to look are big issues to overcome. Probably the greatest issue of all is creating meaningful standards that simulate actual defect conditions to calibrate and certify the test method. The hollow blade may need to be stressed during testing to simulate operating load conditions.
@@richardpeugeot9143 Yes, I've been musing over this...taking a light read on how engine cowls are "tested" for the containment and excursion risk, engines are intentionally forced into failure on static stands. There are no aerodynamic loads conducted to see the effects for rating these cowls for real world conditions. I think that is probably going to be the next step for researches to lend some new test experiments ...in a mach windtunnel, and then see how these cowls manage fan blade and HPT blade and disk failure. That's probably where they are focused for nextgen designs...It's just common sense to look at how the cowls operate in these failures at high aerodynamic loading.
then, also musing...the very thing you were talking about wrt TAI inspections/testing. I would imagine there is a certain amount of fatigue permissible...but these tests are being performed when the blades are NOT under the same kind of real world loads. I am certain the scientists have modeled and tested and re-tested what that permissible test value can be or what a rejection threshold is. But it stands to reason, just as in the static engine failure example above, one might be looking at how to re-create aerodynamic stresses on the fan blade and then conduct the test. How to accomplish this would be an engineering challenge, but not a technologically impossibility. For instance, one could induce a apparent load on the fan blade simply by changing the thermal state of the target...and then dynamically altering this thermal delta rapidly, while testing the most common areas where a stress is likely to result in failure...
It would be a challenge, but I think this is probably going to move some needles about how to best innovate toward a better test regime.
@@tdmmcl1532 TAI or any nondestructive inspection method is meaningless without standards that simulate the discontinuity of interest in the areas of interest to qualify and calibrate the nondestructive inspection method. The calibration standards must be able to be duplicated so that the blade manufacturers as well as those doing in-service inspection are working from the same page. All metallurgy has discontinuities at some level. But when does a discontinuity become a rejectable defect?
Some parts are designed with no thought given as to how they are to be nondestructively evaluated to determine the end of service life. Sometimes critical components that cannot be reliably evaluated nondestructively are life limited and must be retired at a certain point in the service life. This may be the case with these large diameter fans using hollow titanium blades that are difficult if not impossible to reliably inspect in a cost-effective manner. It may be cheaper to just replace the blade.
The long term solution is to turn these large fans at a lower RPM as in a geared engine and design the blades in such a manner that they can be nondestructively evaluated. Quality has to be designed in from the beginning. Quality cannot be inspected in!
@@richardpeugeot9143 my understanding is that these fan blade ARE designed with DNI technologies "in mind" and so have both limited life AND permissible discontinuity AND rejection values. And the manufacturing process QC and the maintenance DNI QC technologies are essentially equivalent...Adequate to make correlations that are valuable for both ways improvements and feedback.
I think the weak area, is that in testing, as you mentioned, the target is not being subjected to loads...and so one might be missing an important part of the total picture with respect to micro-defects, or fatigue. I think broadly, this is the case with many of the inspections...But obviously this takes in a much more significant consideration wrt to engines for obvious reasons.
Even with current regimes, it's obvious to me reading former NTSB recommendations that DNI operators are not entirely consistent with the documented established practice. As with any technology, things can get very out of control, if the process isn't followed properly or errors go unnoticed and unattended.
I suspect the entire regime is going to get another close look...as it should..
the day that this industry refuses to learn how to innovate from experience, I'll hand my hat up and shoot the horse.
@@tdmmcl1532 So often NDI methods are evaluated under laboratory conditions that don't fully simulate the real world condition these fan blades experience. Sometimes it is very challenging to take an NDI method out of the lab and apply it on the factory floor and also under "in service" conditions. How much thought was given to the creation of realistic fatigue crack standards for the hollow blade geometry?
OKAY JUAN !
Cat's out of the bag dad !
Would absolutely LOVE to have Pete give his
Orville and Wilbur Wright report !
What an honor that would be !
When ( and if ) you might be able to talk Pete into it,
please give us a heads up when we can expect to see his report Juan !
Have a pretty good idea that there are a number of us that would enjoy that very much !
Again, thanks for your videos Juan !
Your in-depth reporting style gives us an insight into these events that we would never see otherwise !
My uncle worked at P & W for 40 years. He and his team designed the engines for the Globemaster.
I used to live close by the Jupiter Florida PW facility and many I night I fell asleep to the rumble of the engine test stand.
I worked in East Hartford, P & W.
@@mariejoy8598 Yes, he worked in CT. Passed away at 90 two years ago.
I have been watching this channel for the last year…….. I have learned so much about flying and it’s mechanics and everything that goes in to being a pilot. Hats off to you and your colleagues sir, thank you for making flying the safest mode of transportation.
BTW I am an emergency medical doctor….. flying to different locations all the time…
Welcome back to this side of the pond, Juan, and thanks for yet another superbly done video.
Thank you for explaining the process of what the Captain does and what goes on when the crew goes through this type of problem.
At first I was thinking they would be listening for a certain frequency in return to check for cracks. Instead of heat, sound. Silly me. Thanks for a good report 🙂 Welcome home, enjoy some salmon!
that's not silly I think that would be a much better way of doing it. A cracked vs uncracked blade I'd expect to return different frequencies.
The first 8 years of my military/A&P/IA career was on turbine engines, then I went the GA route and now out of aviation. Nearly 40 years wrenching airplanes large and small, fast and slow. The time spent as a jet mechanic was in the late 70s into the 80s and all on one engine the J52 or known in the civilian world the JT8. A turbo jet not a fan. So this engine is out of my wheelhouse. It is amazing to me what the metallurgist have done. I am not familiar with this test. NDI and NDT yes but not this test. Thank you for the update and pictures, they really do speak a thousand words.
Juan, I have learned a great deal from your channel and pay close attention to all your aviation safety presentations.
Thanks for this channel and taking the time and patience to explain all of this to us from your professional inside experience. I was very excited to take my first 777 hop two weeks ago. It was United to Denver. Now, I’m not so excited.
Juan, great summary of the blade failures! Thank you for digesting the a available information and presenting it to us in an understandable nature.
I'm not knowledgeable in TAI but it is likely that they paint th ed blades to give them a highly controlled emissivity. If you point an IR temperature sensor at bare metal it can give a very inaccurate response. A paint with known emissivity allows accurate temperature profiles to be measured.
Thanks for a tech briefing on a very complicated technical subject. Early in my aviation career, (50 years ago) I lost almost 14" off a prop in a Cessna 310. As the engine mounts on this port engine started to fail the whole engine/prop/cowling started torquing towards the aircraft center line. I got the engine shutdown and prop feather before the remaining prop started to eat me and the cockpit. I was trembling when I dismounted the aircraft. Thanks for the clearly laid out explanation. Things go south in a hurry at these RPM's.
You imply in your commentary that the use of color imaging would be better than black and white because black-and-white means it's older equipment. Having worked in thermal imaging for 20 years, I can tell you that the use of pseudo-color is not an aid. The color is not generated by the imaging equipment, it is an artifact assigned by a computer to an image through a lookup table. Hence it is pseudo-color and not a real color image. The color often obscures information as you no longer have a uniform scale from black to white to evaluate. Instead, you have to attempt to interpolate what a specific color means, and often the color assignments by the computer are not smooth transitions between temperatures. This is why medical X-ray images are still presented to doctors in black and white even though the images are now created through electronic imaging and not film. The use of black-and-white is far better in presenting data as it removes a distraction (color) from the interpretation of the image.
Not as technical, but, boroscope technology, while able to take measurements and record in incredible detail, has remained greyscale for much the same reason.
Which was the conclusion reached in the tabular report on the testing facility shewn in the video.
Plus Pixel size. 3 Pixels are "wasted" for 3 colors when trying to see the smallest of details. A tiny crack can be obscured because of the color. B&W gives you a smooth gradient from Black to white to see changes in density. It is also why Astrophotography (think Hubble) uses "false color" to get as much imaging detail as possible at a given resolution and pixel size of the imaging chip array.
@@gnuspudguns
Actually I use a full color borescope for diagnostic purposes and so do several other industrial repair shops in the area.
If we convert it to digital then it is saved as a B&W (greyscale) image.
@@JeffCounsil-rp4qv
True, but with the advent of the 128 megapixel cmos imager there is now sufficient detail even under 1000x to do both true color and greyscale.
Things have advanced many fold since the Hubble Telescope was launched.
another brilliant description for us lay people . expert analysis which i find so interesting never boring. thanks, Juan. see ya here!
C’est absolument passionnant d’écouter Juan. No one can match him on his ability to explain complex issues in a simple manner. THANK YOU Juan
Juan, you explain things in a GREAT manner, im a bit of a techie, computers, gear head, cars, planes cant manage flight sim, so i appreciate and look forward to your vids, thank you sir.
I was waiting for you to say 'drift down'. In another life i dispatched DC9's domestically over the mountains and we had to have drift down altitudes and alternates specified.
I love how Juan explains everything, as a mechanic explaining what is going on with the engine is a great job.
God 🙏 bless you Juan.
Thank you for creating this video to update the public about what happens with airplanes & pilots in emergencies. All I know is your pilot is the most important part of your flight. Use airlines that encourage their pilots to be up to date on their training.
I have always enjoyed people that can take a complicated subject and then explain it in terms I can understand. Thank you.
Crikey your channel is like looking behind the curtain in the wizard of oz. amazing stuff
I know everyone is saying it but I need to add to the chorus; this is the only place I go for aviation related news and incident reports. No BS, no hype... fact and analysis presented in a calm and reasoned manner.
Great Job Juan,
Just a thought, I do Infrared testing for Coca-Cola, and we have to put a tape or coating on any shiny surface that you want to measure the radiating IR energy from (temp). The more reflective the surface, the less accurate the measurement. We calibrate against something called a Black Body, which looks like a badly burnt piece of toast. No reflectivity what do ever. (Perfect Emissivity properties)There is theory and equations for all this, but I know your a KISS kind of person.
If you want the tech details, let me know.
Looking forward to meeting you and Dan at Sun n Fun in April. Love you guys!
Sincerly, Steve Meschke.
Yep, the emissivity of metals is low. Paint also helps cut down reflections when taking photos.
@18:00, this is a long term issue @ UTC, Training. Never enough time for training, plenty of time for retraining after an incident. UTC Aero then being Pratt, Hamilton Sundstrand, Sikorsky and Nordan. I’m happy that my division got sold.
Thank you for your time Juan... Pete is a rock star.
Don't be nervous, Pete, there will only be thousands of viewers hanging on your every word. :-)
@@machintelligence Brilliant! Thank you
Thanks for the update on TAI. We’re starting to use CAT Scan technology to inspect wall thickness on hollow HP Turbine blades now too as we’re starting to run into life limiting conditions after decades of repair cycles where removal and re-application of the diffused aluminide coatings takes away 0.001 or 0.002 of parent material each time.
Infrared thermometers are calibrated by pointing them at a temperature-controlled disk called a “black body”. The disk’s black coating prevents reflections and hot spots that would affect the apparent temperature of the surface. So if they’re looking for minuscule temperature differences, it would make sense that they would apply a non-reflective insulating coating before running the test..
Blackness of a body relates simply to the IR emissivity vs temp- it's the max possible. One way to replicate that is to have a small opening into a cavity in the object. The IR intensity out of that opening will be that of a black body at that temp. Typical hand-held IR thermometers are set to assume that all radiating bodies have
An absolutely fascinating & excellent video from you Juan.
We had a zoom meeting with your counterpart at Mentour pilot who also had released a tech video on UA328.
He praised your coverage on this channel & i for one would fully agree.
Glad you had a safe return with all that salmon.
Thanks for all your content.
That would be awesome if Pete wanted to give his presentation to the channel!
I still sometimes look at planes and think it's incredible that never mind it takes off and lands, but that it can (usually) move mass numbers of people, quickly, and efficiently. Then this has made it even more mind blowing that the fan blades can snap off mid flight and not take out the plane with all those people. Incredible. Then we talk about Asparagus coming to the UK, and us sending Salmon back over. Salmon and asparagus, shame their paths never crossed, they go well together!
Thanks again for going over it all for us.
"Salmon and asparagus, shame their paths never crossed, they go well together! " With Juan flying, both sides of the pond get to enjoy the combination.
It’s crazy to think there was a time we weren’t listening to Juan’s greatness
Juan, I thank you for the single engine drift down and ETPS planning information I am a retired airline a&p and r&e mechanic and I am not a pilot but I found the information very interesting and informative.
That snarky gravity. Always putting me down.
It's the law.
You and me, both.
@@raleedy - It's only a theory.
Great as always thanks Juan.
I have to admit I’d never thought about the very significant extra drag in such a scenario, (ie: blade failure causing cowl failure and departure) and the effect it would have if you had a failure right AT your engine out decision point- (we call it DP1) - that wouldn’t be great, and could theoretically perhaps even force a ditching due to insufficient fuel.
Excellent presentation, thank you!
Time for AgentJayZ to step in and explain the inspection procedure in detail.
Once again, thank you Juan for the complete and precise update, and yes, we would be happy to see your son's presentation. Cheers from Winnipeg.
Way to go on the Wright Brothers presentation, Pete! Here's hoping for that A+!
Great video again Juan! I myself every morning walk by the powerplant dept and look at a GE CF 34 on the assembly line. You will notice the Challenger 600 series and a10 sound the same! 😉
Core engine shows up and they install the cowling designed and made by Canadair now Bombardier.
Cowling , doors, thrust reversers etc have to be designed and certified by transport Canada, faa, easa requirements etc.
I myself back in the day would inpect skin panel doublers via ultrasonic inspection looking for voids in between the skins.
I was also inspector for composite dept. As you mention the tap testing, I still have my little hammer.
Interesting to hear what you've been hauling. Thanks for transporting Salmon from the UK to the USA, means a lot at the moment while the EU are playing silly buggers! 👍
Thanks to the Brit fishermen! That North Atlantic has to be cold!
I strongly suspect that the salmon is in fact farmed Scottish salmon....
Dont be fooled by the hype!
PS I live near one of their farms and we dont like it, not one bit, the farm, the environmental effect, the product.
@@dougaltolan3017 Scary to contemplate the salmon farm water contaminating the Scotch distilleries, not mention people's drinking water.
@@rickhopkins3863 Fear not, the salmon farms are in the sea,while distilleries use closely guarded springs.
Where Scots get drinking water? Mostly out of a whiskey bottle.
You played yourself.
Super video! I applauded for $5.00 👏👏
Thanks Richard!
Thank you for all the great content!
I love how well you explain the details to the level of understanding that matches my intellect, and allows me to duplicate you all along. Extremely well done !!! Aarre Peltomaa of Mississauga, Ontario
p.s. The only thing that we are missing, is why the the fracture occur in the first place, and I didn't know what was meant by the word 'ratchet', when referring to the crack.
Thanks for keeping us updated. You should do a zoom live with the other big aviation TH-cam channels on things like this.
JayZ did a great presentation for this right after it happened. JayZ probably also has video's of cutaway blades
nice to see you home from my home city ! yes london , we live in manchester in the UK , but london is our largest city !
As always clear concise information. Thank you. And yes, have Pete do his presentation.
Excellent review and a thought provoking discussion. The flight crew has "drift down charts" based on the loss of an engine at altitude. These charts show the altitude that can be maintained on a single engine. Most folks don't realize that above about 25000 ft altitude that the aircraft's true airspeed will actually slow down at a given mach number. This is because the ambient air cools (adiabatic rate) at the rate of 2 degrees per thousand. The speed of sound is a function of air temperature, and actually slows down as the air cools. Jet aircraft normally cruise at a percentage of the speed of sound, so mach .80 would be 80% of that speed. Above the tropopause, (35000-40000) the air no longer cools at the adiabatic rate. This is also the altitude where the prevailing winds tend to drop off. The primary reason for flying a jet aircraft at those higher altitudes is to take advantage of the thinner air density, which creates less drag, and therefore greater fuel savings, reducing costs while extending range. A second consideration would be to fly above the tropopause where the headwinds would be much lighter.
That Pete is a Handsome young man. I love to see him enjoying his fathers work. I would LOVE to hear his presentation on the Wright brothers.
Nice shot of the Greenland mainland. We always flew to LAX in the late afternoon and usually tracked up by Thule about 77 North so really only saw Greenland in twilight but managed to witness the sun rising from the west and then the subsequent double sunset. We carry a 5% contingency of the EDTO fuel to cover any drag issues with airframe or engine damage. It will be interesting to see what fuel burn difference from the planned v actual.
When I operated a thermal heat tester, it will not give accurate readings off of a shiny metal surface. Wouldn't surprise me if they use a flat 18 percent grey.
Fantastic. Thanks again. Quality research and well presented. This is priceless knowledge. A million hours in the same rote sim scenarios simply can't prepare you for dynamic events and the millions of variables in each failure.
I am so far behind on NDT.
We used to use fluorescent penetrant inspection on the early LTS-101 turbines.
Those engines we a nightmare.
Yep the -650's on the early BK117's were not great!
We still do in hydroplane racing
As the parent of a son who is starting aviation school this fall, this channel is definitely in my TH-cam aviation-related rotation. Great informative video as always. Thank you
I can't wait for Pete’s presentation! I'll be here!
Thanks for the update Mr. Browne. Guest appearance by Lt Pete was awesome too. 👍👍👍✈️✈️✈️✈️
Brilliant update as always, thanks Juan...and shoot for an A Pete, with your dad's aviation knowledge, I'm sure you'll be picking it up too 😁😁😁😁. Cheers from Aus!!!!
Good stuff, Juan.
The bigger the prop, the bigger the potential issues. Same goes for fan blades.
Great video Juan. Watched Your flight home last night on Flightradar 24. Was hoping it would go over Dublin but saw it routed up through England and Scotland. Keep up the good work! Cheers Will. ✈✈👍👍
Interesting. Sounds like fun to track Juan’s flights but I don’t know anything about Flightradar24. I know Juan flies the B777 but don’t you need a departure airport, time, airline, flight#, etc?🤔
Hi Gwiyomi, it's just a matter of knowing the aircraft route to put into Fr24 and it will give you all the information you need on the scheduled flights for that route. Best wishes Will!
I’ll try it. Now that I think about it Juan provided a good deal of info regarding his round trip asparagus/salmon flight with London stopover. Thanks for the info!🤗
Mr Juan thank you for all your videos , time and expertise . I’m a G.A . Flight school mechanic at a flight school . I find these reports helpful. Thank you.
So, this is just me spitballing here, but I think that the paint for TAI is to help with emissivity for thermal imaging - in order to get an accurate reading form thermal imaging, you gotta radiate like a blackbody, not shiny metal.
Precisely. Also to avoid reflections from shiny metal.
I am impressed with the improvements in NDT / imaging technology. Back in the day.... we had LPI, MPI, and X-rays. In the end we sometimes had to resort to destructive testing. The trick then was to determine sample size and the risk of missing a defect versus the cost of destroying perfectly good blades. As to the development of testing protocols they were often written by a qualified 3rd party for the exact reason you mentioned. In house subject matter experts did not have the time.
When ultrasound travels through materials with different properties, you get all kinds of reflections and noise. The paint helps transmit the ultrasound with minimal reflection, it has the same purpose as the gel they use when you get an ultrasound scan at the doctors.
Well. Since it's called "thermal" I'd assume they (also) look at the blade with an IR camera and (aka thermal camera), like one of the higher end FLIR models. Infrared waves are really light, just longer wavelength, and as all light, it reflects off shiny surfaces. E.g. you can't see through glass. Same with polished titanium, so they have to apply a mat black paint first.
A piece of (masking)tape would do the same, but would be too hard to get applied uniform in corners and such.
When I first heard of TAI, I thought they just added a controlled heat source to one end of the blade and watched how the heat spread out. The ultrasonic part explains the acoustic part.
The paint is to provide an surface with consistent emissivity for the IR cameras.
That's the word Ultrasound...but correct me if I m wrong as this kind of inspection or another similar must be done in engines once an airplane reaches its thousands cycles of flying...cause it's know that after those thousands cycles parts of its structures suffer mainly from metal fatigue...
my limited understanding is that an enveloping material OF KNOWN properties allows the test results to establish clear and precise visual representation of the precise surface of the target. and because it tickles. and everyone knows that doctors and techs love to get a tickle in when they can. /s
I love hearing / seeing your activities (cross country MC riding, professional flights, civil aviation, your updates on the incidents, and sharing your pride and joy (Pete). You’re obviously a proud man, deservedly so.
I saw "Final Report" and "Fan Blade Failure" and thought, holy cow, that was fast!
Juan, parts that use a thermal gradiant inspection, typically get painted white for emissivity. The IR camera would then be able to get a good reading on the surface temperatures.
NDI inspection requires numerous standards to verify the technique against. Pratt&Whitney would have to use something like Eddy current to identify a defect, then verify the results with the new technique.
There are national accreditation organizations and certifications issued after training. Just like with inspectors that are mag particle, x-ray, penetrant inspection, Eddy current, and acoustic inspection.
I think if you get that Chris Benham on that will be a great interview
Pratt and whitney is still a quality engine Manufacture no matter what anybody says.
they've been at it a long and im sure they will get this sorted out. unfortunately this comes
at a bad time for airlines. I'm sure they'll get to the root of the problem and continue as one of the
major players in supplying power plants. Thanks Juan for keeping us well informed.
I wonder what the expected interval between the initiation of the crack that is detectable using TAI and propagation to blade failure is? Theoretically, your inspection interval would be some degree shorter than that. I'm guessing that really small cracks at thick sections of the blade are exceptionally hard to detect if it relies on some kind of friction. Deep in the root. Lots of material to dissipate the heat.
From the records of previous tests, it will be possible to calculate all that.
Any seemingly intact blade that shows a crack is a data point for how big a crack can be before failure.
For instance..
Lets say that you see many many blades with 0.1mm cracks, some with 0.2mm, a few with 0.3 and none with 0.4.
Depending how careful you want to be you might let any with 0.1mm cracks go back into service. Then you can get an idea of how long it takes to go from 0.1 to 0.2
Great Update and Explanation Juan...Hope the testing of the remaining engine fan blades in the airlines fleets goes well...
GO Pete! We wanna see your presentation kid!
Thanks Juan for addressing decreased altitude for single engine operation.
I would love to see Pete’s presentation on the Wright brothers!
I love watching this channel. I never get tired of learning new things about aviation! Thanks Juan!
When Juan asked Pete how the presentation went, I seriously thought Pete was going to shout, "Keblemo!!"
Thank each and every one of you for your service to begin with. Mr Brown you're taking over the world because the world loves you because you are great at what you do you have so much respect from so many people on so many different levels. Giving an immediate thumbs up for the algorithm. Love and respect
At United, the augmented crew position is an IRO, or International Relief Officer. Sometimes we have 2 IRO's.
At Continental, our IROs were responsible for keeping the cockpit drink box and ice fully stocked. They also got the least desirable rest periods. Hey, but the pay was the same , right?
@@whtfsh765 Our Flight Attendants kept the drinks coming, all iced down! The IRO's were in the bunks, sound asleep...dozing for dollars!
Juan you mentioned that when an engine is shut down, the remaining good engine is run at full power. The ETOPS certification for 180 minutes on one engine would have been tested and proven with new engines. But have the manufacturers run ETOPS tests on high hour engines say with 10,000 or more hours. Your explanations are clear and precise, great videos, thank you.