Boeing last week had to replace 10 brand-new jet engines on 737s ready for customer delivery, after tiny glass beads were found inside the engines. The beads, the size of sugar granules, were mixed into paint for reflective runway stripes that were repainted early this month, and somehow were ingested into the engines during test runs. Mechanics could see the beads in the engine intakes when they shone a flashlight in, The Seattle Times reported on Saturday. The county is removing the paint and will replace it with glass-free striping, the Times said. The damaged engines, worth $5 million each, have been replaced with new ones, and are being evaluated to see if they will be repaired or scrapped. “The process that they use for painting taxiways and runways is the same process they use nationwide,” FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer told the Times. “We’re trying to figure out why things were ingested here and we haven’t seen it anywhere else.”
Loose Paint + Jet Engines = $50 Million
Key Takeaways:
- Boeing replaced 10 brand-new 737 jet engines after tiny glass beads, from recently repainted reflective runway stripes, were ingested during test runs.
- The incident prompted the county to remove the problematic paint and an FAA investigation into why this unusual ingestion occurred, as the same painting process is standard nationwide without similar issues.
- The damaged engines, valued at $5 million each, have been replaced and are currently being evaluated for potential repair or scrapping.
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