Originally Posted by
Concentric
I think we can draw a few other things from the latest AIBN statement, not the least of which is that there will be a further preliminary report issued on 29th April, the anniversary of this tragedy. Respect.
Agreed, but with the anniversary of the event approaching, it is clear they only understand "what" happened. Without a definitive answer to "why" they will be unable to provide recommendations which if implemented would make for safe travel. To still be at this stage more than nine months on is rare in my experience. Usually if the exact reason for failure cannot be found and there are no other occurrences in other units tested, investigators with follow EADS and AH's line of return to service then monitor closely. Here, because we have had two fatal incidents and they have low confidence in current advance detection methods they have held back. They say that their main investigative tool is the metallurgy and this is ongoing. Ironically part of the problem seems to be the low rate of occurrences. In all the millions of cycles as far as we know this has only happened twice. This means that the bearings are inherently very reliable. The problem, of course, is that on the two occasions when they are known to have failed it resulted in such tragic accidents.