That cracked fan blade I caught on a 737 saved us a grounding

I was doing a routine boroscope inspection on a CFM56-7B at the hangar in Atlanta last Tuesday. Saw a tiny hairline crack on a stage 1 fan blade that was maybe 3mm long. Senior mechanic told me to flag it because the NDT would catch it anyway. Turned out the crack went deeper than anyone guessed after the dye penetrant test. Has anyone else caught something small that could have turned into a big issue mid-flight?

2 comments

2 Comments

ivanlewis24d ago

Oh man, that's a great catch! I found a chipped turbine blade on a Pratt once that everyone else had dismissed as nothing, and it ended up having a microcrack that would have definitely let go at cruise.

karenm4924d ago

Man it's such a relief to hear someone else say that. I've been in similar spots where you just get that gut feeling something's off even when everyone else is saying it's fine. That must have been a tense moment when you realized you were right about it. Glad you caught it before it became a real problem, that kind of thing can keep you up at night. Good instincts on that one.