Air Tanzania’s Airbus A220 suffers engine failure

AIRBUS A223’S ENGINE FAILURE PROMPTS RETURN OF FLIGHT TC123 TO MWANZA

(Posted 27th September 2019)

Air Tanzania’s flight TC 123 from Mwanza to Dar es Salaam yesterday suffered an engine failure not long after taking off from the lakeside city.
The aircraft had reached an altitude of just over 7.500 feet when the engine failed and the pilots decided to immediately return to their airport of origin as the nearest point of landing.
The aircraft landed safely but will have to remain on the ground for an engine change.
Meanwhile does this seem to be another case of an Airbus A220 engine failing, which prompted the FAA earlier this month to issue an Air Worthiness Directive about several similar engine failures of the Pratt and Whitney Geared Turbofan engine, which affected Air Baltic but also other airlines operating this aircraft type.

The FAA notice, which was published on September 10th, i.e just over two weeks ago, proposes the inspections of the PW1500Gs and PW1900G. It also requires that the gap between the oil supply of the engine and the fuel oil cooler must to be inspected on a more regular basis. Operators of this engine type are already exchanging the fuel oil cooler and the supply tube for new components to comply with Pratt & Whitney’s own service guidance.

The issue came to light earlier this year when P&W addressed it with its service bulletins.

Meanwhile has Swiss recently also suffered two engine failures in flight, raising additional questions about the PW engines used, more so as Airbus had similar experiences when the A320NEO family was launched, using this engine type.
These engine failures have in the past also affected Korean Air and other operators, raising serious questions about P&W’s workmanship, component reliability and generally the safety of this engine type.

Air Tanzania has two Airbus A220-300 in service and only recently ordered an additional two such aircraft for delivery in 2021.

https://atcnews.org/2019/07/19/airtanzania-to-buy-two-more-airbus-a220/

https://atcnews.org/2019/09/20/airtanzania-to-add-two-more-airbus-a223-aircraft-to-fleet/