Summary
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposes to supersede an existing airworthiness directive (AD), applicable to General Electric Company (GE) CF6-80A, CF6-80C2, and CF6-80E1 series turbofan engines, that currently requires revisions to the Life Limits Section of the manufacturer's Instructions for Continued Airworthiness (ICA) to include required inspection of selected critical life-limited parts at each piece-part exposure. This action would add additional mandatory inspections for certain high pressure compressor (HPC), low pressure turbine (LPT), and high pressure turbine (HPT) parts. An FAA study of in-service events involving uncontained failures of critical rotating engine parts has indicated the need for mandatory inspections. The mandatory inspections are needed to identify those critical rotating parts with conditions, which if allowed to continue in service, could result in uncontained failures. The actions specified by this proposed AD are intended to prevent critical life-limited rotating engine part failure, which could result in an uncontained engine failure and damage to the airplane.