US: Grounding of about 400 Army CH-47 Chinook helicopters

The US Army has grounded its fleet of approximately 400 Chinook helicopters after detecting a risk of fire in the helicopters’ engines, a spokeswoman told Reuters yesterday.

The helicopters are manufactured by Boeing Co and can carry heavy loads, supporting disaster response operations as well as transporting the injured. Operationally and for carrying out military missions to transport personnel and military materials, the helicopters are also used internationally, by various countries, including Greece, Italy, South Korea, but also Canada.

“The Army has identified the root cause of a fuel leak that caused a fire in a small number of engines among a number of isolated CH-47 helicopters, and corrective actions are being implemented to resolve the resulting problem,” said US Army spokeswoman Cynthia O .Smith.

There were no deaths or injuries from the engine fire incidents, and the helicopters were grounded “to take substantial precautionary measures” pending the implementation of all measures to resolve the issue, Smith added.

The fixation, first made public by the newspaper “The Wall Street Journal” while it concerns specific models of helicopters of the type with engines manufactured by Honeywell International Inc, according to the report.

Boeing declined to comment, referring related questions to the US Army.

Honeywell did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

SOURCE: AMPE

Source: Capital

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