Regulators are investigating episodes involving Pratt & Whitney equipment that rained debris from planes and forced emergency landings.
Debris from a United Airlines Boeing 777 landed in Broomfield, Colo., on Saturday after the engine burst into flames. The plane returned safely to Denver International Airport.Credit…Chet Strange/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
A recent series of startling airplane engine failures has cast a harsh light on Pratt & Whitney, the storied Connecticut aerospace manufacturer.
The company’s products were involved in two episodes over the weekend in which engines failed in flight, shedding debris over populated areas in Colorado and the Netherlands. In December, the failure of a Pratt & Whitney engine forced a Japan Airlines jetliner to turn around shortly after taking off from Okinawa.
The episodes, which involved Boeing aircraft, all ended in safe landings, and it is too soon to say whether they were connected. But they prompted action by aviation authorities and airlines around the world, raising questions about what went wrong.
