Originally Posted by
DaveReidUK
A coincidence, by definition, is hard to believe. Do you have any evidence?
I do not have any evidence, but I am a strong believer that a preventative is better than a cure. IF, by any chance, there is a maintenance problem occurring, we should try to find it.
Like I said, it could be a coincidence, but 4 panels falling to the ground in the space of a month is rather excessive, do you not agree?
My first thoughts were that poor Chinese maintenance was responsible for the dual 767 panel departure issue, but now after the KLM panel issue, I have started to wonder.
I think it is better to be safe than sorry.
I do think that Japanese people take more pride in their work than any other nation on earth, and maintenance in Japan is probably above average quality. However, due to cultural issues there are a lot of potential problems which can occur even if the maintenance people believe they are doing the right thing.
Again, it could just be coincidence, but 4 structural panel failures in the space of a month warrants investigation IMO.
I'm not trying to lay blame here. I just think that we all deserve to fly on safe aircraft and if there is something wrong with maintenance procedures we should find it ASAP. Japanese people have an incredibly strong work ethic but it can work against safety if the procedure is wrong or improperly instructed.
I believe fatigue is a very overlooked factor in Japan, especially in maintenance where regulations are basically non existent, so I believe this is worth investigating, even if only slightly. Again, not trying to lay blame here, please just understand that Tokyo is an extremely densely populated area and we cannot afford to have panels falling from the sky like this. We have enough problems with iced up aircraft shedding ice over the city since the new routing has been under consideration (An absolutely horrible idea imo). If the problem lies here in Japan, it should be investigated and a solution found pronto.