An ERJ170 suffered considerable engine damage after ingesting FOD during start. Remains of a baggage scanner were found on the taxiway.
Synopsis
An ERJ170 suffered considerable engine damage after ingesting FOD during start. Remains of a baggage scanner were found on the taxiway.
Narrative
On the taxi out; an aircraft taxiing behind us informed Ground Control that it appeared we might have ingested some plastic into one of our engines. They said it looked like there was a bunch of plastic pieces laying on the taxiway. The message was relayed to us. This report came shortly after we had started the number two engine. We didn't notice any glitches as far as how the engines were running; but as a safety precaution we decided to return to the gate to look at the engines to make sure they were clear and that there was no damage. Upon returning to the gate; an Airport Operations vehicle met us and said that they had found numerous pieces of a baggage scanner on the taxiway. Upon review of the engines; it did appear that the number two engine had indeed ingested something; as there was considerable damage to numerous fan blades that were not present during preflight. One would have to assume that one of the ground crew must have set the baggage scanner inside the number two cowling after scanning bags and forgot about it. It was not noticed by the ground crew on the push back and was then ingested by number two when the engine was started.Ground crews need to be more aware of their actions and do a complete and thorough walk-around on the aircraft before it is pushed back.
Second reporter narrative
Taxi out; we started right engine. The aircraft behind us notices that we may have ingested some plastic FOD. However from the engine parameters we did not noticed any unusual indications during engine start. We returned to the gate. After maintenance inspection we found considerate damage of fan blades suggesting ingestion of FOD. Parts of a baggage scanner were found on the taxiway. It can be assumed that it was left by ground crew after finishing loading the bags.
Source: NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (public domain). Reports are voluntary submissions and are not verified by NASA.