The US Army has temporarily grounded its entire fleet of heavy helicopters. CH-47 Chinook. The reason is the risk of fire in the T55 turboshaft engines, manufactured by Honeywell.
The grounding, initially reported by the Wall Street Journal, was ordered by the Army Materiel Command on Monday (29) and affects all of the organization's approximately 400 helicopters. The order came after a series of engine fire events in some CH-47s.
The Army identified a fuel leak as the main cause of the fires. The leaks would have occurred due to the use of O-rings (a sealing ring) outside the standards established by Honeywell. Parts were installed on engines during routine maintenance work at an Army facility.
Em release regarding the grounding of helicopters, the company says that, together with the Army, it was able to validate that "none of the O-rings originated from or were part of any Honeywell production or Honeywell overhauled engines. t U.S. Army and Honeywell engineers identified the problem and are now working with the Army to provide replacement O-rings on all affected Chinooks.”
The Chinook entered service with the US Army in 1962, but Boeing-Vertol began development of the aircraft in the 1950s, when the US Army announced that it wanted to replace the CH-37 Mojave.
With more than 1200 units produced since then, the CH-47 has established itself as a reference in heavy transport of rotary wings, having participated in a series of conflicts around the world. The aircraft is also heavily used in humanitarian aid and disaster relief operations. The Chinook is operated by three to five crew and is capable of carrying 24 tonnes of cargo, depending on variants.
