NTSB investigates engine fire on Boeing 737 Max operated by United Airlines with 19 passengers and five crew onboard at Newark Airport as it taxied to the terminal
- A United Airlines flight from Fort Lauderdale landed at Newark on June 28 with 179 passengers and five crew, and the engine caught fire
- They shut down the engine and used an onboard firefighting system, and the plane was towed to the gate
- The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating: it is not yet known what caused the fire, but comes after years of concern about the 737 Max
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an engine fire on a Boeing 737 Max which landed at Newark airport, then caught fire while taxiing to the terminal.
The flight, operated by United Airlines, took off from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on June 28 with 179 passengers on board and five crew.
It landed safely, and the pilots then detected signs the left engine was on fire.
The engine was shut down and an onboard firefighting system activated, and the plane was towed to the gate.
No one was injured, and there was no visible smoke or flames.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, but a fuel leak was observed inside the engine, according to the NTSB report, released on Friday.
The engine on the United flight burst into flames while taxiing on June 28: no one was injured, and the cause is under investigation
‘Upon gate arrival, maintenance personnel observed evidence of a fuel leak from the No. 1 engine.
‘The No. 1 engine thrust reverser doors were opened for visual inspection and heat damage and sooting were observed on the engine cases and external surfaces.’
Boeing unveiled their 737 Max in 2015, and since its Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) approval in 2017 has become one of the most widely used aircraft in the world.
A year later it had its first crash: in October 2018 a 737 Max operated by Indonesian airline Lion Air crashed shortly after take off, killing all 189 on board.
Five months later, in March 2019, a second 737 Max – this one operated by Ethiopian Airlines – crashed again shortly after take off, killing all 157 on board.
Three days later the planes were grounded by the FAA.
It later emerged that Boeing staff, in internal messages, were cavalier about FAA regulations and critical of the Max’s design.
One said it the aircraft was ‘designed by clowns who in turn are supervised by monkeys.’
Wreckage of the Ethiopian Airlines flight is seen on March 11, 2019
Faults were discovered in the aircraft’s MCAS, or Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System: the MCAS was found in both the Lion Air and Ethiopian Air crashes to have erroneously pointed the nose down towards the ground, and the pilots were unable to override it.
In 2021, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to settle charges the company hid critical information about the Max from regulators and the public.
Boeing spent billions overhauling the systems and the planes returned to global skies in the fall of 2020, after being grounded for 20 months — the longest such action in aviation history.
