Another incident
Swiss convenes emergency committee due to problems with A220s
Once more there was an incident with an Airbus A220 from Swiss. Now all planes have to be inspected, many flights are cancelled.
An Airbus A220-300 of Swiss.
An Airbus A220-300 of Swiss.
Another incident occurred on an Airbus A220 flight operated by Swiss. The aircraft turned around on Tuesday morning (October, 15) due to engine problems, as a spokeswoman confirmed aeroTELEGRAPH. Flight LX359 had to make an unscheduled landing in Paris on the way from London-Heathrow to Geneva.
Now we try to find the cause of the problem, Swiss continues. This had consequences for operations at the Lufthansa subsidiary: Around noon all A220-flights of the airline departing from Geneva were delayed. Swiss flights departing from Zurich that were supposed to be operated with A220 were also marked as delayed.
All A220s have to be inspected
It is now clear that all Airbus A220 aircraft will undergo a «comprehensive inspection» at Swiss. Only after a «inspection with flawless results will the aircraft return to regular flight operations», according to the airline. This leads to a noticeable reduction in flight operations, as numerous flights have to be cancelled.
One flight by Air Baltic, which was to be operated with an A220, was also cancelled. Whether there is a connection between the cancellations has not been confirmed. An emergency committee has been convened, according to an information to emplyees of Swiss, as this is already the «third in-flight shutdown within three months». «The committee is currently carefully evaluating whether and how safe flight operations can be ensured with the C-Series fleet.»
Search for engine parts
Incidents such as that on flight LX359 have occurred repeatedly lately. In all cases one engine failed. That was the reason of the US aviation authority on September 26, issuing an airworthiness directive. All A220 require additional checks of their Pratt & Whitney engines, the Federal Aviation Administration FAA stated.
Each time a so-called uncontained engine failure occurred. Due to a malfunction, parts of the engine are thrown outwards. The French investigation authority Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses BEA, which analyses the incident of July, 25, is meanwhile looking for 150 volunteers to help find blasted engine parts in an uninhabited wooded area off Paris.
Resemblance to other cases
On the current incident, the employee information on the intranet of Swiss reads: «The incident bears resemblance to the previous cases. During the climb there was an audible engine defect, whereupon the engine was switched off according to the checklist.»