The Indian Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has requested IndiGo pilots refrain from revving their engines too hard on the airline’s Airbus A320neos in Top Gun style take-offs. The practice is believed to have been the cause for many Pratt & Whitney engine failures on the airline’s aircraft.
So far this year, IndiGo has suffered 13 shutdowns of the Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engines fitted to its Airbus A320neos.
In November, the DGCA ordered IndiGo to replace the engines on its entire Airbus A320neo fleet, consisting of 98 aircraft in total. IndiGo was given just 13 weeks to complete the engine replacements for all its Airbus A320neos. So far it has replaced just 86 engines, leaving 110 to complete by the end of January 2020.
The DGCA has compared the operating procedures of other airlines to determine the cause of the problem. Sources suggest that the DGCA has concluded that IndiGo’s throttle practices during take-off are responsible for the engine failures.
Supposedly, IndiGo pilots usually take-off using full throttle, as it can end up burning less fuel. The approach appears to have had a detrimental effect on their engines. The additional stress placed on the engine components likely caused them to fail.
Although the possible cause of the issue has been discovered, most of IndiGo’s Airbus A320neos have already probably been affected by the full-throttle take-off procedure already. Yet it is unknown if the DGCA will extend the deadline for IndiGo’s engine refit programme.
