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Washington, Aug 2 (IANS): US federal aviation authorities are investigating an engine failure on a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane built for Air India during a pre-delivery taxi test in Charleston, South Carolina.
The National Transportation Safety Board said Wednesday Boeing and General Electric, the engine manufacturer, had notified it Saturday about the mishap. As a result of the failure, the engine reportedly left debris on the active runway at Charleston International Airport and caused a brush fire, NTSB said. There were no passengers aboard the aircraft nor were there any fatalities or injuries.
The NTSB said it had sent an aviation investigator with extensive expertise in aircraft power plants, to the scene on Sunday to gather information to better understand the circumstances of the event.
In the next few days, an NTSB aircraft powerplants expert and a metallurgist from the NTSB Materials Lab will travel to a General Electric facility in Cincinnati, Ohio, to lead and coordinate the disassembly and examination of the engine in question, it said
The Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing and General Electric are parties to the investigation, NTSB said.
Boeing is "unaware of any operational issue that would present concerns about the continued safe operation of in-service 787s powered by GE engines," a statement from the Chicago-based planemaker said.
Boeing's factory in North Charleston, South Carolina, is one of two assembly sites for the twin-engine 787, the world's first jetliner with a fuselage and wings built chiefly from composite materials. The other assembly site is Boeing's wide-body plant in Everett, Washington.
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