Shawn....
Go to the AAIB reports for the two events...the original lightning strike and the later crash of the second aircraft. When you read the laundry list of damage, destroyed components, and scrapped components from the aircraft that was struck by lightning....I dare say....you will question any explanation for why those blades were even considered to be worth inspecting....much less using. There are a lot of people stirring up the dust over this one and pointing the fingers every which way.
One man's opinion....after the lightning strike, those blades should have been removed from service along with the transmissions and other bits and not placed on an aircraft. The severe damage the aircraft sustained from the strike moved it from an incident to an accident in my book....and alarm bells should have been sounding when it was decided to re-use the blades.
The manufacturer's quality control and the subsequent inspection of the blades also seems suspect as well. I wonder if the people inspecting the blades after the lightning strike were aware of the extent of the damage to the aircraft and would that knowledge have impacted their decision making? Were the blade caps on the blades or had they been removed....that would also have provided more evidence for the inspectors to view while inspecting the blades.
The Operator got about 1600 more hours out of the blade....at the cost of an inspection, some shipping, and one aircraft and eleven lives.
I hope those hours were worth it?
Last edited by SASless; 18th April 2003 at 12:38.