Contamination of PW1100G-JM Turbofans Suspected

Against the possibility of powder contaminants affecting the PW1100G-JM Geared Turbofan (GTF) engines by which Airbus’s A320neo narrow-body airliner is powered, Pratt & Whitney—the engine’s maker—intends to disassemble and inspect the interior components of as many as 1,200 such powerplants.

Reflecting on the imminent undertaking, RTX Corporation CEO Gregory J. Hayes remarked: "It's going to be expensive."

Formerly Raytheon Technologies, RTX is a multinational aerospace and defense conglomerate and the parent company of Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon. On Tuesday, 25 July 2023, RTX disclosed the possible contamination issue by which the PW1100G-JM may be afflicted.

Anticipating a $500-million reduction in free cash-flow resultant of the engine inspection effort, Pratt & Whitney intends to get about and complete the endeavor quickly and proficiently. The company plans to accomplish no fewer than two-hundred engine removals and inspections by September 2023 and as many as one-thousand more through the 2024 calendar-year.

An internal Pratt & Whitney investigation traced the PW1100G-JM engine issue to the company’s HMI Metal Powders plant outside of Utica, New York. Subject facility produces powder coatings for turbine disks.

Mr. Hayes set forth: "The big question is what are we going to have to do in terms of compensation to the airlines. We've got two-years to work through that, and we will figure that out."

News of the PW1100G-JM engine issue and Pratt & Whitney’s proposed fix therefor sent RTX stock tumbling some 15-percent to approximately $82.30-per-share—the lowest price of 2023.

Hayes conceded Pratt & Whitney changed the process by which it screens metal powders in late 2021. The issue with the culprit powder was made public after Pratt & Whitney’s technical staff came into possession of data suggesting possible contamination of as many as 1,200 engines. Pratt & Whitney is providing the FAA data germane to the fiasco with the expectation the agency will issue an appropriate alert to operators of the PW1100G-JM geared turbofan engine.

"This contamination had occurred between late 2015 and late-2020-early-2021, so we knew we had a suspect population in the fleet," Hayes alleged. "Based upon everything we knew until very recently, we believed that the life of the turbine disk was such that we would see these disks in the shop and be able to inspect them before we ever had an issue."

Hayes defended Pratt & Whitney’s design and engineering processes, calling the aberrant powder "a quality escape.”

"It is a problem and we have them every day, and we'll solve it," Hayes asserted. "These contaminants are microscopic, and unfortunately in the original process as we scaled up production for GTF, it got away from us a little bit—and we fixed it."

FMI: www.prattwhitney.com