Incident related parts - can we do more?
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Incident related parts - can we do more?
As a parts supplier, we are frequently audited based on current FAA (AC00-56A) standards and a recurring subject is how we ensure that incident related parts are not entered back into inventory without being suitably tested or overhauled as per OEM requirements. That's all well and good, but one recurring thought has always been in my mind as to why national accident investigation authorities don't issue lists of major rotable components as standard when they're concluding their incident or accident investigations?
It's clear that CVR and FDR data is the primary source of investigations, then the authorities cover licenses, training, previous history of the aircrew in parallel to the technical state of the aircraft; but why can't they compile a simple list which details the major assemblies by part number and serial number and enter that to an international database so that everyone dealing with parts will know without a shadow of a doubt that part XYZ123, serial #ABC789 has accident history, irrespective if the owner of the hull either attempts to bring the part back into circulation or opts to scrap them?
Your thoughts?
It's clear that CVR and FDR data is the primary source of investigations, then the authorities cover licenses, training, previous history of the aircrew in parallel to the technical state of the aircraft; but why can't they compile a simple list which details the major assemblies by part number and serial number and enter that to an international database so that everyone dealing with parts will know without a shadow of a doubt that part XYZ123, serial #ABC789 has accident history, irrespective if the owner of the hull either attempts to bring the part back into circulation or opts to scrap them?
Your thoughts?
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I believe the FAA may have a list of items that have been removed from wrecked aircraft and reintroduced into the spare market (bogus parts !)
I certainly remembered such list being issue by them , relating to the AA 757 that hit the mountain some years ago, I think in Bolivia or Chile. A load of stuff disappeared of the mountain and the FAA issued a list of the parts by serial and part numbers to various airlines and maintenance organisations. Hope this helps.
I certainly remembered such list being issue by them , relating to the AA 757 that hit the mountain some years ago, I think in Bolivia or Chile. A load of stuff disappeared of the mountain and the FAA issued a list of the parts by serial and part numbers to various airlines and maintenance organisations. Hope this helps.
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Incident related parts
Thanks T5. What I'm suggesting however, is a standard international requirement to list all major rotable items (engines, undercarriage, avionics, flight control surface actuators etc.) as an addendum to the actual incident report as these do tend to end up being published and in the public domain.
The FAA issue SUPs (Suspected Unapproved Parts Notices), but these are nothing to do with incident related parts. There is also a disparity between what the FAA have you do with an incident part and what EASA have written. So, a part which may have been from a prang in Europe finds its' way to the USA and there it is simply bench-checked by a repair station rather than being sent back to the OEM for overhaul. The potential for failure is obviously greater if the part is not treated as being incident related by the inspecting technician on the basis that the incidence has not been mentioned and deeper analysis is not performed. If an airplane lands gear up for example, then one might presume that a bunch of avionics and instruments behind the cockpit panel wouldn't be affected just by visual checks, but until the units have been fully checked out, they shouldn't be considered serviceable until after overhaul.
The FAA issue SUPs (Suspected Unapproved Parts Notices), but these are nothing to do with incident related parts. There is also a disparity between what the FAA have you do with an incident part and what EASA have written. So, a part which may have been from a prang in Europe finds its' way to the USA and there it is simply bench-checked by a repair station rather than being sent back to the OEM for overhaul. The potential for failure is obviously greater if the part is not treated as being incident related by the inspecting technician on the basis that the incidence has not been mentioned and deeper analysis is not performed. If an airplane lands gear up for example, then one might presume that a bunch of avionics and instruments behind the cockpit panel wouldn't be affected just by visual checks, but until the units have been fully checked out, they shouldn't be considered serviceable until after overhaul.
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Your first problem is resourcing the investigators, someone would have to look up and enter all the data. Then who holds (and pays for) the database. And to what level of component... an engine serial number is one thing (and engine log books are easy enough to stamp/mark) but what about an individual turbine blade of which there may be many!
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Seem to remember reading of an incident with the BA 747 that was blown up in Kuwait, BA did everything by the book and paid for the lot to be scrapped including the engines that were more or less complete but lying on the apron, they then had an enquiry from the USA some time later about some rotatables some company was looking to buy ( fan blades if memory serves me correctly) that were on the market, they were traced to the supposed scrapped engines.
found it, the rest of the article makes interesting reading too
Air-Parts Pirates Crash and Burn - page 6 | Insight on the News Newspaper
found it, the rest of the article makes interesting reading too
Air-Parts Pirates Crash and Burn - page 6 | Insight on the News Newspaper
Earlier this summer in a Chicago courtroom, an aircraft-parts importer was sentenced to more than a year in prison for his role in an elaborate international scheme to resell parts from two aircraft -- a British Airways Boeing 747 and a Kuwaiti McDonnell Douglas DC-9 -- blown up by Iraqi soldiers at Kuwaiti International Airport at the outset of the Persian Gulf War.
Judged a total write-off after the war, insurer Lloyd's of London contracted to have the scorched hulk of the British airliner scrapped. But the scrap dealer instead schemed to have portions of the airplane's giant engines shipped to an aviation-parts brokerage in Chicago, which then resold them to unsuspecting airlines. "When these parts started hitting the market and the serial numbers didn't jibe, people started calling around," said one investigator who worked the case. Detective work by the Department of Transportation inspector general, or IG, the FBI and New Scotland Yard resulted in indictments of three company officials as well as the removal of the suspect parts from the aircraft on which they'd been installed.
Judged a total write-off after the war, insurer Lloyd's of London contracted to have the scorched hulk of the British airliner scrapped. But the scrap dealer instead schemed to have portions of the airplane's giant engines shipped to an aviation-parts brokerage in Chicago, which then resold them to unsuspecting airlines. "When these parts started hitting the market and the serial numbers didn't jibe, people started calling around," said one investigator who worked the case. Detective work by the Department of Transportation inspector general, or IG, the FBI and New Scotland Yard resulted in indictments of three company officials as well as the removal of the suspect parts from the aircraft on which they'd been installed.
