Delta to inspect 757s after engine failure

Delta Air Lines Inc. said Friday it will inspect the engines on its 132 Boeing 757 jetliners after one engine failed and another on an American Airlines plane developed cracks.

The National Transportation Safety Board has asked the Federal Aviation Administration to order the inspections, citing "serious concerns that warrant immediate action by the FAA."

As of Friday the FAA had not made a decision. It has said it needs to determine if all Pratt & Whitney PW2037 engines need inspections, or just those made during a certain time period.

Delta spokeswoman Betsy Talton said Delta will inspect its planes during scheduled maintenance, rather than pulling the planes out of service to do the checks.

The NTSB began examining the engines after Delta pilots heard a bang and lost engine power during the takeoff roll at the Las Vegas airport on Aug. 6. The plane returned to the parking area and no one was hurt.

Investigators found that four turbine blades had broken loose and hurtled into the jet's engine. They also found several broken, cracked or missing lugs that hold turbine blades.

The NTSB said the engine's case is designed to contain one broken turbine blade, but not the four that came loose on the Delta flight. And it was just good luck that the blades flew down, because if they had flown left they "would have been directed at the fuel tank in the wing, which could have resulted in a fuel leak and fire," the NTSB wrote.

Delta told the NTSB that it had discovered damaged lugs while doing work on an American Airlines jetliner with the same PW2037 engine. It was not clear when the work was done, but American no longer flies 757s with those engines, a spokesman said. The NTSB also said damaged lugs have been found in four other PW2037 engines. It said Pratt & Whitney has not shared information about those other four incidents.

American got 19 Pratt-powered 757s when it bought TWA, but it returned those planes to leasing companies because the engines differed from those in the rest of its 757 fleet, making them more expensive to maintain and operate, spokesman Tim Smith said. The last 757 with that engine left American's fleet in October 2007. He said American, a unit of AMR Corp., did not get rid of the TWA planes because of concerns about the engines.

The PW2037 engines are used on 289 aircraft at airlines that also include UAL Corp.'s United and Northwest Airlines Corp. United spokeswoman Megan McCarthy said on Friday that it is not doing immediate inspections but will work with the FAA "until something is determined" about what is needed.

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AP Business Writer David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.