Rolls-Royce has extended its inspection of Trent 1000 engines to include other models of the powerplant that could be affected by a blade durability issue.

In April the company confirmed details of a durability issue affecting the Intermediate Pressure Compressor in a population of its Trent 1000 engines, known as Package C engines. Since identifying the issue, it has undertaken a wide range of engineering analysis and engine tests to further its understanding of the cause.

It stated today: “While this work has focused on Package C, we have also considered whether the same durability issue may occur on other Trent 1000 engine variants. A similar Intermediate Pressure Compressor durability issue has now been identified on a small number of high life Package B engines and we have therefore agreed with the relevant regulatory authorities, with concurrence from Boeing, to carry out a one-off inspection of our Trent 1000 Package B fleet, to further inform our understanding.”

The Package B standard has been in service since 2012 and consists of 166 engines.

Rolls-Royce says these inspections will be supported by an EASA Airworthiness Directive that will be published in the next few days. As a result, it continued, “We anticipate there will be a limited impact on customer operations to enable this programme of one-off inspections to take place. Engines will be inspected on-wing using existing techniques.

“We are committed to eliminating this Intermediate Pressure Compressor durability issue from the Trent 1000 fleet and we have already successfully run a redesigned Package C IPC in a development engine. As a precautionary measure we have also launched a redesign of the relevant part in the Package B engine as well as in the Trent 1000 TEN engine, where, although currently a young fleet, we have not seen any examples of reduced IPC durability.”

The company’s Package B version has been in service on Boeing 787s since 2012.