Reflective Beads Embedded In Paint Damage At Least Ten Engines

It was an innocuous little paint job -- restriping the taxiways and runway at Seattle's Boeing Field. But it went very wrong and the damage could cost upwards of $50 million.

The tiny reflective beads embedded in the paint apparently came loose and were sucked into the engines of several 737s, as well as the last 757 ever produced, according to the Seattle Times. At least 10 737 engines have had to be replaced as a result.

The tiny glass beads, about the size of a grain of sugar, are used to create a reflective environment at night and under IFR conditions. The paint was laid down on December 3rd. Shortly after that, Boeing told Airport Director Bob Burke that flakes of paint and glass beads were found on the landing gear of a 737 which had operated from Boeing Field.

Burke promptly sent out work crews, who, according to the Times, spent three days and some 300 hours of machine time sweeping the runway and taxiways for FOD. No luck.

"We found nothing. We gave it a clean bill of health," Burke told the Times.

But last Monday, Boeing workers said they had found those little glass beads embedded in a 737 engine (file photo of aircraft type, below).

So Burke and company went back out onto the field, where they found beads separating from the paint on one stretch of taxiway Bravo.

"We don't know why," Burke told the paper. "We were at a loss to figure out what was going on. We made the decision to take the paint up."

There's nothing special about the paint used at Boeing field, which records some 900 flight operations a day. In fact, the problem is something of a mystery, albeit an expensive one.

"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."

But the damage has apparently been done to those 737 engines, as well as one from the last production model 757. Boeing says the ten 737 engines will probably have to be replaced at a cost of $5 million each.

Boeing spokesman Peter Conte said there was no safety issue involving the engines. "Foreign debris in the engine can cause a deterioration in performance over a more rapid period than would normally occur. A customer would just find it unacceptable to take an airplane with such a damaged engine."

FMI: www.metrokc.gov/airport