CA1921 maintenance issue caught on camera in flight

[factor]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBDxjMnV4mQ

[Pilot DAR]

Very low criticality, but yes, some fasteners should be replaced....

[Nightstop]

A SAFA Inspector would have grounded that aircraft, after arriving safely of course!

[Krystal n chips]

A SAFA Inspector would have grounded that aircraft, after arriving safely of course!

I would suggest otherwise. The shot is of the flap track fairing, upper surface, not somewhere that usually gets inspected on the Line for example, for obvious access reasons.

True, there are fasteners missing / loose and they need to be replaced / secured, but, there's no reason to ground the aircraft until this routine and simple rectification has been completed.

[Nightstop]

I’ve been temporarily grounded for similar, albeit under the fuselage. These SAFA people are thorough, quite rightly so.

[DaveReidUK]

I’ve been temporarily grounded for similar, albeit under the fuselage. These SAFA people are thorough, quite rightly so.

Given that we don't know the date of the flight, or the airframe involved, we have no way of knowing whether or when rectification was carried out once the missing fastener(s) had been detected.

Maybe go easy on the outrage in the meantime ...

[Bksmithca]

Given that we don't know the date of the flight, or the airframe involved, we have no way of knowing whether or when rectification was carried out once the missing fastener(s) had been detected.

Maybe go easy on the outrage in the meantime ...
Dave
According to SimplyFlying the flight occurred on July 7 of this year. Had it come off it was being the engines so the risk of ingesting into the engine were non-existing. Contact with the horizontal stabilers would be a possibility.

[Nightstop]

For those unfamiliar with what SAFA in the EU is all about, read this:

https://www.easa.europa.eu/domains/air-operations/ramp-inspection-programmes-safa-saca

[Krystal n chips]

I’ve been temporarily grounded for similar, albeit under the fuselage. These SAFA people are thorough, quite rightly so.

Can you recall the form, and location and extent of, presumably missing fasteners under the fuselage ?

Line engineers are also thorough.

Having read the criteria in your link, I can't see any that would be considered applicable to ground the aircraft. If I had found the missing fasteners, I would have inspected the rest of the fairing and, if the rest were secure and intact, would have raised a defect before certifying the aircraft..

Not being pedantic, but, I do feel it's being alarmist to say the aircraft would have been grounded when there's no reason for this and the aircraft can still be operated...safely

[pocker pipty]

If fasteners were not available, can easily and legally remove fairing for departure. No big deal!

[Paulf]

I think both arguments are essentially correct - assuming the defect is not recorded (and pax have no way of knowing this), a SAFA inspector could well ground the aircraft until it’s rectified or recorded if one carried out an inspection.

From an Engineering perspective, it’s probable that the aircraft could be released with the missing/loose fasteners - although this should be recorded as K&C has posted