Airline Regulators Grapple With Engine-Shutdown Peril

I read an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “Airline Regulators Grapple with Engine-Shutdown Peril” which explained the issue of engine failure while in flight due to icing. Apparently, there was a belief that the newer version of jet engines would not internally freeze. This turned out to be wrong. It is important to also note that when the engines have shutdown the pilots have been able to restart them. A dual engine failure has occurred 14 times and there have been many single failures since the mid 90s. A study in 2006 by Mr. Hookey of the NTSB, officially confirmed there was an icing problem.

GE and Rolls-Royce are manufacturers of these engines. Since the confirmation of the icing, these companies have approached the problem differently. GE sent out a bulletin that explained the issue and provided a software update. While Rolls-Royce, in my opinion, made a greater stride by actually modifying the engine and releasing information to pilots.

The ethical issues that appear in this case are: is it ethical to transport customers knowing there is a possibility of the engine dying and should GE do more to fix the problem? I personally feel that customer’s lives should not be put in danger. Even though, in the past engines have been recovered it only takes one incident to end lives. Also, I feel the engine manufacturers should do everything they can to ensure they are providing a safe product.

Reference:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120753185285993925.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one