FAA Releases New Aircraft Engine Safety Tool to Industry The FAA has released a new computer design tool designed to reduce disk failures in turbine-powered jet engines that can lead to fatal accidents in commercial aviation. "This new tool represents a major breakthrough in our safety research program," said Steve Zaidman, FAA’s Associate Administrator for Research and Acquisitions. "In its Safer Skies Agenda, the FAA promised to reduce the rate of accidents caused by uncontained engine failures, this technology will help us accomplish that goal." The disks are the primary part of the engine directly responsible for producing thrust. When the disk fails, it can have catastrophic results. Fast-moving fragments from the disk not only can disable the airplane, but can also cause direct fatalities when they penetrate the cabin wall. Despite rigorous safety standards, undetected material and manufacturing flaws in gas turbine engines can reduce rotor structural integrity. For example, investigators traced the 1989 fatal accident of a DC-10 at Sioux City, IA, to an undetected material defect in an engine rotor that resulted in an uncontained disk failure. While historically the current engine rotor design and life methods have served the industry well, this new code will enhance these methods by explicitly addressing these defects. Since it is exceptionally difficult to find such flaws using current nondestructive inspection methods, the application of this tool will consider the presence of these flaws in the design and life determination. This new method will also give insight into planning the most effective inspection program. The probabilistic-based turbine rotor design and life management tool, called "Design Assessment of Reliability with Inspection," allows engine manufacturers to improve turbine rotor structural integrity, reducing the risk of catastrophic failure. The code runs on a computer workstation. Engine manufacturers can use the code with their design systems as a FAA recommended method to meet a new regulatory standard. This technology is the result of a four year FAA-funded research, engineering and development grant with Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) in San Antonio, Texas. SwRI developed the tool in collaboration with engine manufacturers AlliedSignal, Rolls Royce-Allison, General Electric, and Pratt & Whitney. The engine companies are enthusiastically committed to the use and safety benefit that will result from the application of this new design tool. "The probabilistic design code that the FAA has asked us to develop is an excellent example of the Institute’s mission to advance technology for the direct good of the public," says the SwRI Program Manager, Dr. Gerald R. Leverant.