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The engine has been flying for more than a year on the MAX, and has undergone thousands of hours of ground testing without any problems, said Jamie Jewell, a spokeswoman for CFM.
“There has been no hint of this, no hint of a problem,” she said.
During an inspection at one supplier, CFM discovered an “anomaly in the forging process” of a disc in the low pressure turbine in the back of the LEAP engine, Jewell said. The low pressure module has five discs, and potential concerns were spotted in two of the discs, she said.
“We decided to inspect all the engines that contain parts from this manufacturer,” Jewell said. “This is limited to one manufacturer, and it’s limited only to the LEAP-IB engine for the Boeing 737 MAX.”
The company, with its “dual-source strategy,” does have a second manufacturer for the disc, she said. Discs in around 30 engines are being inspected.
The 737 MAX is not in service yet. Main deliveries of the aircraft will likely not be derailed, Jewell said. “We caught it early. We’ve got people at the supplier, walking the process, identifying what could have caused this issue.”
Production of neither the airplane nor the engine has been affected, she added.
CFM has said its LEAP engine is the fastest-selling in aviation history
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