Artificial Horizon
28th Sep 2003, 03:43
The following report has just been issued. My question is, exactly what goes on during the repainting of aircraft? First we hear that Ryanair is retiring aircraft early due to cracks found after repainting, now Qantas has found cracks in some aircraft thought to be due to repainting!!
Sep 27, 2003
Qantas has reportedly grounded two jumbo jets after engineers found a 75-cm crack in a part joining fuselage to the body of the aircraft.
The Weekend Australian said the crack was discovered during maintenance procedures and had been reported to aircraft manufacturer Boeing and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).
The damage was believed to have been done before Qantas acquired the leased aircraft from Malaysian Airlines in 1998, and may have been caused when the aircraft was repainted in new livery, the newspaper said.
A Qantas spokeswoman told The Weekend Australian regular maintenance had discovered "some low-level damage to the fuselage" of the 747-400.
A second aircraft repainted at the same time had been grounded for inspection as a precaution, the spokeswoman said.
A 1.76-m crack in the skin of a China Airlines 747-200 was blamed for the aircraft breaking up in mid-air last year.
All 209 passengers and 16 crew were killed in the incident, which occurred shortly after take-off from Taipei.
Sep 27, 2003
Qantas has reportedly grounded two jumbo jets after engineers found a 75-cm crack in a part joining fuselage to the body of the aircraft.
The Weekend Australian said the crack was discovered during maintenance procedures and had been reported to aircraft manufacturer Boeing and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA).
The damage was believed to have been done before Qantas acquired the leased aircraft from Malaysian Airlines in 1998, and may have been caused when the aircraft was repainted in new livery, the newspaper said.
A Qantas spokeswoman told The Weekend Australian regular maintenance had discovered "some low-level damage to the fuselage" of the 747-400.
A second aircraft repainted at the same time had been grounded for inspection as a precaution, the spokeswoman said.
A 1.76-m crack in the skin of a China Airlines 747-200 was blamed for the aircraft breaking up in mid-air last year.
All 209 passengers and 16 crew were killed in the incident, which occurred shortly after take-off from Taipei.