mmmm
thats how they build the emb 120, nothing is swappable (leading edges, fairings etc) between aircraft, everything fitted by hand/eye, its not 'unusual'
there are no parts that have rivets in them that will fit another emb120 - if they do its blind assed luck
i have seen repair parts from dehavilland that had to be 'modified' after reciept of them because they didn't fit, this includes pilot holes in the wrong spot and overall dimensions out (modified on advice of bombardier obviously)
sooooooooooooo brings the question are these parts 'unsafe' or just poor quality
obviously the supplier figured close enough is good enough, and he may be right, from a structural standpoint, as long as hole edge margins and the material thickness are within specs the part should still do its intended designed job
according the al jazeera article some of these parts have been rejected by boeing hopefully the ones that are to thin are among those. Also it listed problems with the parts as being to wide, to thin, edge distances out of tolerance, and out of contour,
if its too wide then trim it, not hard, if its out of contour, make a packer for it - common practice in the sheet metal world (and per the article its what they did on old school 737's) the list of solutions goes on; and on lets not forget this is boeing - they don't even need to go the manufacturer for a repair scheme here, they have bucket loads of really smart guys called engineers (not LAMES - aeronautical) to assess this on the line, and they would have to certify/sign off it,
the fact that Gigi the parts girl knows about the problem tells me that the engineers also know
soooooooooo am i skeptical on the safety aspects of the problem????
granted i am not too sure about the latest AD status of 737 ng, but i know the 737 100-200 and have seen lap joint repairs done, and lots of corners around doors with boeing boiler plate(and a 8 inch crack ) cargo door frame (on the fuse) with a fist sized corrosion hole in it, as well as floor beam replacements, and my fave the fwd pressure bulkhead replaced because the structure holding that bit on was cracked (lots of structure with lots of cracks) (this was an AD)
so a stringer with fastener holes not exactley where they should be??????? - not convinced, or a frame with a packer under it?????? - not convinced
lets not forget what would happen if boeing deviated significantly from the type certificate of the 737 ng, the lawsuits would be long involved and big, and also lets not forget the litigation loving atmosphere of the USA,
Last edited by Connaught; 15th Jun 2011 at 02:01.