Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/569627
ByKimberlyPierceall and Sally Ho The Associated Press LAS VEGAS Jet engine parts found on the Las Ve- gas runway where a British Airways flight aborted take- off as the engine burst into flames indicate a rare cat- astrophic failure, experts said Thursday as investiga- tors released preliminary findings and began analyz- ing flight data and cockpit recordings. Early findings show the failure occurred where the engine was under the high- est pressure, though there was no immediate indica- tion of what caused it or the fire that forced 170 people to evacuate Tuesday at Mc- Carran International Air- port as smoke poured from the aircraft. "You really don't see cata- strophic or uncontained en- gine failure like this very of- ten," said John Cox, an avi- ation safety consultant who spent 23 years as a U.S. Air- ways pilot. He said the fail- ure indicates parts sliced through the engine casing. The National Transpor- tation Safety Board said there was damage to the armored shell around the left engine's high-pressure compressor, and several 7- to 8-inch fragments of the compressor were found on the tarmac. No one was seriously in- jured when British Airways Flight 2276 screeched to a halt and the 157 passen- gers and 13 crew members escaped down evacuation slides as firefighters doused flames spewing from the engine beneath the wing of the Boeing 777. The pilot who halted the takeoff and calmly called "mayday, mayday" said he will retire one flight shy of the day he had planned to hanguphiswingsnextweek. Chris Henkey of Pad- worth, England, told NBC News he'd never had such a close call in a 42-year ca- reer, and he's "finished fly- ing." He won't captain what was to be his final flight to Barbados, where he in- tended to vacation with his daughter. Investigators planned to interview Henkey and two senior first officers with 18 and 10 years of experience. Henkey, 63, was hailed by fire officials and airline ob- servers for a flawless reac- tion and evacuation, though he deflected praise, saying the entire crew helped. The whole ordeal lasted about five minutes. Engine fires are unusual but not unheard-of. In July, a Southwest Air- lines flight evacuated at Midway International Air- port in Chicago when one engine caught fire on take- off. In June 2006, an Ameri- can Airlines jet engine ex- ploded during testing at a maintenance area at Los Angeles International Air- port, launching parts into the body of the plane and as far as half a mile away. No one was injured in ei- ther incident. Both jets had different engines than the British Airways plane. NTSB and Federal Avia- tion Administration inves- tigators, along with teams from Boeing and engine manufacturer General Elec- tric, were examining the aircraft before removing the damaged engine for a thorough analysis. The flight data and cock- pit voice recorder "black boxes" and a quick access recorder arrived at an NTSB laboratory, said Eric Weiss, an agency spokesman. Investigators in Las Ve- gas were expected to look at fuel lines, maintenance re- cords, engine history and other factors to pinpoint what sparked the blaze. Don Knutson, an air- craft accident investigator in Wichita, Kansas, said mechanical failure, parts fatigue or the ingestion of debris all could have cre- ated the failure. "Jet engines suck, squeeze, burn, turn and blow," he said. "That creates the energy to propel the jet forward. If something fails during intake, it could lead to compression failure. But that in itself may not cause a fire." The damaged compo- nents came from the en- gine core, which spins at ultra-high speeds adjacent to the engine combustion chamber. The NTSB statement didn't address possi- ble causes of the fire, or whether a fuel line might have broken. Cox said a breach in the engine casing could have crippled the effectiveness of a chemical system to snuff out an engine fire in flight. "Halon breaks down the chemistry of the fire and smothers the fire," he said. "When you have an open system where the casing is not intact, halon can't do its job." FLIGHT DATA, RECORDERS Jet engine parts on Las Vegas runway indicate major failure JOHNLOCHER—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS A damaged British Airways Boeing 777-200sits at McCarran International Airport on Wednesday in Las Vegas. An engine caught fire before takeoff Tuesday forcing the evacuation of the crew and passengers. By Eric Tucker The Associated Press WASHINGTON Despite the many challenges in bring- ing such cases, the Justice Department is renewing its commitment to pros- ecuting corporate exec- utives for financial mis- deeds, Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates said Thursday. In a warning shot to Wall Street, Yates unveiled new policies to guide fed- eral prosecutors in bring- ing more c r i m i - nal cases a g a i n s t individu- als even as she ac- k n o w l - edged that the Justice D e p a r t - ment has, at times, strug- gled to hold executives ac- countable for fraud that occurs at their companies. "Crime is crime. And it is our obligation at the Jus- tice Department to ensure that we are holding law- breakers accountable re- gardless of whether they commit their crimes on the street corner or in the boardroom," Yates said at New York University's law school. "Americans should never believe, even incor- rectly, that one's criminal activity will go unpun- ished simply because it was committed on behalf of a corporation." The new guidance comes amid persistent criticism that the depart- ment, even while nego- tiating multi-billion-dol- lar settlements with large banks, has not been ag- gressive enough in pros- ecuting individuals for fi- nancial misconduct — in- cluding after the mortgage crisis that devastated the U.S. economy. It's not clear how far the new directives, some of which are already in place, will go in easing the barriers that have long thwarted successful pros- ecutions of high-ranking corporate executives. "It's impossible to tell whether this will mean more prosecutions," said Lee Richards, a former Justice Department pros- ecutor who represents companies and corporate officers. "I think there's an enormous amount of polit- ical pressure in the depart- ment in that regard," he added, though much will depend on how the guid- ance is carried out. But taken together, the policies are designed to put the government in a stronger bargaining pos- ture in corporate fraud in- vestigations and to reduce leverage companies have in shielding individual ex- ecutives from prosecution. "It does elevate to the level of policy what's been said in speeches and what has been the practice" al- ready of many Justice De- partment prosecutors, said Matthew L. Schwartz, a former Justice Depart- ment prosecutor in New York City who helped lead the case against Bernie Madoff. Perhaps the most strik- ing element of the guid- ance mandates that com- panies that want credit for cooperating with the gov- ernment must turn over evidence of wrongdoing by specific individuals. Pre- viously, companies could be credited for disclosing improper practices at the corporate level even if they didn't identify individuals suspected of wrongdoing. "It's all or nothing. No more picking and choos- ing what gets disclosed," Yates said. 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