Faulty mechanical gaskets known as O-rings are believed to be behind fuel leaks that led the Army to temporarily ground its fleet of about 400 Chinook cargo helicopters, according to the company that built the engines.
The Army said it grounded the fleet out of an “abundance of caution” but said no deaths or injuries occurred from the fuel leaks that caused a “small number of fires.”
The defense giant Honeywell said it is working with the Army to investigate what happened.
“Honeywell helped discover that O-rings not meeting Honewell design specifications had been installed in some T55 engines during routine and scheduled maintenance at an Army depot,” the company said in a statement.
The company said the suspect O-rings have been “identified and isolated.”
“The U.S. Army and Honeywell were able to validate that none of the questionable O-rings originated or were part of any Honeywell production or Honeywell-overhauled engines,” the company said.
Honeywell said the company is working with the Army to provide replacement O-rings on all affected Chinook helicopter engines.