In a summer of unprecedented air disasters, the Federal Aviation Administration was taking no chances. Investigators had discovered a crack in the airplane engine that caught fire on a Boeing 737 jet in Manchester, England, two weeks ago, causing an explosion and fire that killed 55 passengers. In reaction, the FAA ordered U.S. airlines to schedule inspections of all similar JT8D-15 airplane engines made by Pratt & Whitney, the nation's largest manufacturer of aircraft engines.
The widely used engine has previously been associated with midair aircraft emergencies: the National Transportation Safety Board has reported problems with the turbine disks on five...
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