Bogus aircraft parts and false supplier records have become a menace to global aviation
GLOBAL aviation is once again in the headlines, which now seems to be happening every week, raising concerns about flying safety.
Last week, a Boeing 737 Max was damaged during a flight after it experienced an unusual manoeuvre called “A Dutch Roll” at 34000 feet.
A statement issued by the FAA alleges that Boeing and Airbus may have used “counterfeit” titanium on commercial planes. Records were falsified by suppliers on the quality of the titanium supplied.
It is an extremely serious development considering the critical role played by titanium in crucial aircraft flight profiles. It is used in landing gears, blades, turbine discs, fasteners, passenger seats, engine frames and engine fan blades. Any compromise on the quality of these components will lead to disaster.
The troubling issue of bogus parts being installed on passenger aircraft is a matter of serious global concern. Faulty, incorrect or illegal parts have led to multiple crashes globally, resulting in crashes and hundreds of deaths.
On September 8, 1989, Partnair Flight 394 crashed off the coast of Denmark, where 50 passengers and 5 crew members died. The crash was caused by the use of counterfeit aircraft parts in repairs and maintenance.
Critical aircraft parts made by third-party suppliers are of serious concern. On average a 737 consists of 600 000 parts, and each part plays a crucial role in air safety. A critical part made by a third-party supplier in China is part no P665A0039-02, it is the blocking or mount lug of the 737’s spoiler, a single point of failure (SPOF) part. If this critical part fails, the entire system will fail, which could cause a fatal accident. Critical parts made in China are not baked long enough to remove some of the hydrogen, while other safety-critical parts are made of inferior material.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has linked bogus aeroplane parts to at least 32 general aviation crashes involving 11 or more deaths since 2011. Although these parts have not been blamed for any commercial aeroplane crashes, government records show 2 868 incidents of standard unapproved parts discovered on commercial planes flown by almost every airline.
Substandard parts are to be found on Boeing 737s and 777s. More than 300 Boeing 737s, including the Max, may have faulty wing parts that don’t meet strength and durability standards. As many as 148 parts made by Boeing suppliers could be susceptible to premature failure or cracks. According to aviation data,166 accidents or serious mishaps between May 1973 and April 1993 were due to bogus parts. Some jet parts made for Pratt & Whitney engines are examples of the sort of counterfeit parts that were found in passenger planes and other aircraft. No country or agency tracks the use of unapproved parts, so the magnitude of the problem is nearly impossible to estimate.
Some of these bogus parts look almost exactly like the authentic parts right down to the official seal. This menace to aviation must be tackled on a global basis.