NTSB CAROL · Event
Event ENG17IA006
Registry · N367CA
FAA Aircraft Registry record.
Make / Model
BOMBARDIER INC CL-600-2C10
Year of manufacture
2002 · 14 years old at event
Engine
GE CF34 SERIES
Seats / Engines
80 seats · 2 engines
Last airworthiness date
20021218
ADS-B equipped
Yes — Mode-S A42680
Registrant of record
DELTA AIR LINES INC
Source: FAA Aircraft Registry (releasable master file).
Aircraft involved
Probable cause & findings
The probable cause of the uncontained No. 1 (left) engine failure was a separated high pressure turbine 2nd stage blade that failed due to a fatigue crack that originated below the blade platform from an area of corrosion.
Factual narrative
HISTORY OF FLIGHT
On November 29, 2016, about 0850 central standard time, a GoJet Airlines Bombardier CRJ700, N367CA, equipped with two General Electric (GE) CF34-8C5B1 turbofan engines, experienced an uncontained No. 1 (left) engine failure during cruise (FL 340). The crew reported hearing a loud noise from the back of the airplane immediately followed by a No. 1 engine roll back and flame out. The crew declared an emergency, diverted to Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL), and made an uneventful single engine landing. The flight was being operated in accordance with 14 Code of Federal Regulations Part 121 and was a regularly scheduled flight from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) Covington Kentucky to Denver International Airport (DEN) Denver, Colorado as a Delta Air Lines connection. There were no reported injuries to the passengers or crew.
DAMAGE TO AIRPLANE
There was no damage to the airframe. A penetration was observed in the No. 1 engine low pressure turbine (LPT) case, but the released debris did not penetrate the engine nacelle.
TEST AND RESEARCH
Engine Disassembly The incident engine, engine serial number (ESN) E965352, was shipped to Delta TechOps in Atlanta, Georgia for examination and disassembly. The LPT case had a penetration located at the 8 o'clock position, about 1 inch aft of the LPT flange, coincident with the high pressure turbine (HPT) 2nd stage rotor plane of rotation. The case material around the penetration was curled radially outward, away from the engine. Seven HPT 2nd stage blades were found separated below the blade platform and the remaining 61 blades exhibited impact damage and were separated above the platform at random locations along the blade span. Impact and thermal damage were observed on all four LPT rotor and nozzle stages. Metallurgy The complete set of 68 HPT 2nd stage rotor blades were sent to the GE materials laboratory in Lynn, Massachusetts for analysis. The seven blades that separated below the blade platform were all fractured at the shank upper radius and the fracture surfaces exhibited visual evidence of high cycle fatigue originating on the convex side from areas of corrosion. The 61 blades that were separated above the platform all failed due to overload, consistent with secondary damage. Of the 61 blades separated above the platform, multiple blades had corrosion and fatigue cracks present below the blade platform in the same general area as the blades that separated below the platform. The blade material composition and hardness levels met drawing specification. The LPT case was sent to the GE materials laboratory in Evendale, Ohio for visual examination and material analysis. The case material composition and hardness levels met drawing specification. The LPT case penetration fracture surfaces had ductile dimples consistent with overload. The NTSB materials laboratory reviewed both GE reports and concurred with all findings. The No. 1 engine experienced a catastrophic failure due to a separated high pressure turbine (HPT) 2nd stage blade. The separated blade subsequently damaged the HPT 2nd stage nozzle vanes, remaining HPT 2nd stage rotor blades, and all four stages of the low pressure turbine (LPT). Metallurgical analysis of the HPT 2nd stage blades that separated below the platform concluded that the first blade to separate failed due to a high cycle fatigue crack that originated from an area of corrosion on the convex side. Six additional blades separated below the blade platform at high cycle fatigue cracks that had transitioned to overload due to impact damage from the initial blade release. The remaining blades in the HPT 2nd stage separated above the blade platform due to overload consistent with secondary impact damage. Multiple blades that separated above the blade platform also had fatigue cracks present below the blade platform that originated from areas of corrosion. The corroded areas contained elements including: sulfur, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus, which are common corrosive elements. The source of the corrosive elements could not be identified. The engine water wash schedule was reviewed and according to GoJet Airlines, water washes are performed on their CF34-8C engines every 1,200 flight hours, or when engine trend data shows performance degradation. GE currently recommends water washing the engine at every -2A check, or about 1,600 flight hours. A GE service bulletin applicable to CF-348C engines is scheduled to be released in the first quarter of 2018 that increases the water wash interval to 2,000 flight hours or when engine trend data shows performance degradation. Source: NTSB Aviation Accident Database Retrieved: 2026-02-12
NTSB Findings
Hierarchical cause / factor breakdown from the FAA bulk avdata database. Each finding tagged C (Cause) or F (Factor).
- C Aircraft-Aircraft power plant-Engine (turbine/turboprop)-Turbine section-Failure - C
Verbatim from NTSB's published report. Source file
NTSB_2016_ENG17IA006.txt.
Findings + structured fields enriched from FAA avall.mdb.
Full investigation docket on
data.ntsb.gov ↗.
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Related research
What the literature says.
Academic papers and agency reports matching this event's aircraft type or causal vocabulary (engine failure). Sourced from NASA NTRS, NTSB Safety Studies, FAA CAMI, AOPA Air Safety Institute, Embry-Riddle Scholarly Commons, arXiv, and the Semantic Scholar academic graph.
- arXiv 2022 · arXiv preprint
Multi-level Adaptation for Automatic Landing with Engine Failure under Turbulent Weather
This paper addresses efficient feasibility evaluation of possible emergency landing sites, online navigation, and path following for automatic landing under engine-out failure subject to turbulent wea…
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Simulation of Liquid Rocket Engine Failure Propagation Using Self-Evolving Scenarios
Traditional probabilistic risk assessment approaches often require failure scenarios to be explicitly defined through event sequences that are then quantified as part of the integrated analysis.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Rocket engine failure detection using system identification techiques
The theoretical foundation and application of two univariate failure detection algorithms to Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) test firing data is presented.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Conference Paper
Rocket engine failure detection using system identification techniques
The theoretical foundation and application of two univariate failure detection algorithms to Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) test firing data is presented.
- NASA NTRS 2019 · Technical Memorandum (TM)
A simulator investigation of engine failure compensation for powered-lift STOL aircraft
A piloted simulator investigation of various engine failure compensation concepts for powered-lift STOL aircraft was carried out at the Ames Research Center.
- Semantic Scholar 2019 · Article (AIAA Scitech 2019 Forum)
Impact of Engine Failure Constraints on the Initial Sizing of Hybrid-Electric GA Aircraft
Potential advantages of hybrid-electric aircraft are fuel savings, lower emissions, and reduced noise. Since these aircraft generally apply multiple power sources, they can also be designed to sustain…
Browse the full corpus — academia portal ↗