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This is a certified
aircraft!!!!! Called safe to carry passengers. Aircraft are not safe
just because they are certified but more by how they are maintained.
Rick Schrameck
For
anybody who is not familiar with a jet engine, a jet fan blade must be
perfectly smooth. A
pilot for a Chinese carrier
requested permission and landed at FRA (Frankfurt, Germany)
for an
unscheduled refueling stop.
The reason became soon apparent to the German ground crew: Apparently
on
previous flights, the Number 3 engine had been shutdown because of
excessive
vibration. However, it had apparently been no problem for the tough
maintenance
guys back China.
Apparently this is a 4-engine aircraft and to get ready for the next
flight,
their solution was to just not plan on using the No. 3 engine and to
take some
sturdy straps (seat belts?) and wrap them around two of the fan blades
and the
structures behind, thus stopping any unwanted wind-milling (engine
spinning by
itself due to airflow passing thru the blades during flight) and
associated
uncomfortable vibration caused by the suboptimal fan condition.
Please notice that the straps
are
seat-belts....how resourceful! After the 'repairs,' these crazy Chinese
pilots
went into the wild blue yonder on another revenue-making flight on only
three
engines!
Because of the performance reduction, (not too mention a significant
increased
drag), fuel consumption increased and they got a bit low on fuel. The
closest
airport was (FRA) and they landed for a quick fill-up.
That's when the problems started: The Germans, who are kind of picky
about
maintenance, inspected the malfunctioning engine and immediately
grounded the
aircraft.
Besides the use of seat-belts, notice the appalling condition of the
fan
blades. The airline operator had to send a chunk of money to get the
first
engine replaced (took about 10 days). The repair contractor decided to
do some
impromptu inspection work on the other engines, none of which looked
all that
great either. The result: a total of 3 engines were eventually changed
out on
this plane before it was permitted to fly again. Here are photos of the
fan
blades, and you were worried about lead paint:
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