The Nation - News from Oct. 27, 1986

Pratt & Whitney has sent an “alert service bulletin” urging design changes on four of its engines following four in-flight failures over the last 16 months, a company official said. The problem involves cracks on and, in four cases, ruptures of a metal air seal on the D, D1, E and E1 engines in the JT9D-7R4 series, said a spokeswoman for the engine maker, based in East Hartford, Conn. The four engines are used on 32 Airbus twin-jet A-310 aircraft and 67 twin-jet Boeing 767s operated in the United States and abroad. The Federal Aviation Administration has begun drafting a proposed new rule that would make it mandatory for U.S. airlines using the engine model to carry out the changes.