Boeing 777: Signs of ‘metal fatigue’ found on Denver plane engine

Boeing 777: Signs of ‘metal fatigue’ found on Denver plane engine

Media captionUS plane engine fire: "I just knew something was wrong"

One of the fan blades in the plane engine that failed shortly after take-off in Denver showed signs of metal fatigue, investigators say.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the blade would undergo further examinations.

Flight 328 was able to make an emergency landing at Denver airport on Saturday, but parts of the engine fell on homes. No-one was hurt.

Boeing has recommended grounding all its 777 aircraft with the same engines.

It said 128 jets should be suspended until inspections had been carried out. United Airlines, Egyptair, and operators in Japan and South Korea have all said they will not be flying their Boeing-777s.

The NTSB said late on Monday that two fan blades on Flight 328's Pratt & Whitney engine had broken. One of them showed signs of metal fatigue, and investigators believe it broke off and chipped the second blade.

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said the blades would be flown to a Pratt & Whitney laboratory for further examination by NTSB safety inspectors.

"Our mission is to understand what happened and why it happened so that we can keep this from happening again," he said.

United Flight 328 was carrying 231 passengers bound for