United plane’s fan blade had multiple cracks; last inspected 4 years ago: NTSB | Fox News

A fan blade that snapped off a United Airlines engine mid-flight, causing it to rain debris over Colorado last month, had microscopic cracks, federal investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board said Friday.

The engine part was last inspected more than four years ago. 

The Boeing 777 made an emergency landing back at Denver International Airport on Feb. 20 after the engine caught on fire soon after takeoff. No one onboard or on the ground was injured.

The broken blade on the Pratt & Whitney engine had been used on 2,979 flights since its last inspection in 2016, the NTSB said. It wasn t due for another inspection until it reached 6,500 flights more than twice the number it had flown when it broke.

via www.foxnews.com

We should deregulate the airlines just so United would be put out of business.