Originally Posted by
megan
I don't think a complete redesign would be the way to go, because you are back at square one with a product that has no operational history. What gotchas may have been included in the new design?
The gearbox has had thousands and thousands of hours of successful operation, until a couple of recent events. Fix what caused those aberrations.
Indeed. For a couple of reasons;
1. The L2 has been around since the early 90s and was operated successfully for many years. It should be possible to isolate the problem and develop a fix.
2. Replacing the gearbox is just not economically viable in the current climate.
If the Puma has any chance to return to the sky the best way for it to do so is to find out what exactly caused the problem and fix it. But even if we can I believe its future in the NS at least is going to be determined by industrial relations and the state of the industry - the machine is caught in something of a perfect storm