EASA says Boeing 747 cargo plane engine incident unrelated to 777

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) said an incident involving a Boeing 747-400 cargo plane that dropped engine parts after a mid-air explosion over the southern Netherlands on Saturday is unrelated to a 777 engine issue that prompted a United Airlines emergency landing in Denver Saturday.

EASA said that even though the Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engine type was the same in both aeroplanes the Boeing 777 "variant is very specific to this particular aircraft. Nothing in the failure and root analysis show any similarity (between the two incidents) at this stage."