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Senate Enquiry into Qantas Overseas Maintenance
Overseas maintenance a 'major concern'
July 2, 2008 - 10:43AM
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A Senate inquiry into the country's aviation safety watchdog has heard serious concerns about the quality of overseas aircraft maintenance facilities.
The inquiry is being conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's (CASA) management and regulations, and ways in which its regulations could be tightened to enhance its role as a safety regulator.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA), an organisation that represents the industrial, technical and professional interests of engineers and other maintenance workers, has told senators the quality of overseas work was not up to standard.
They gave an example of an aircraft that returned from overseas last week with 60 defects that should have been fixed.
"That aircraft has had faults such as earth wires not being connected which caused an electric shock to flight attendants in the galley," ALAEA Senior Industrial Officer Gary Norris said.
Mr Norris said it was a "major concern", given the work had been signed off by the airline, which had implemented a customer inspection requirement in its commercial contract.
"Upon further investigation we were advised by our members, and we haven't had the documentation to verify it but we had been advised that, effectively, the securing bolts for the actual galley assembly may not have been secured," he told the inquiry.
"And we're looking at a mass of approximately 300 kilos in an aircraft that hasn't been secured properly.
"This is a major concern in that the paper system that, in fact, the airlines rely on to ensure the work's done, is not making the link to the practical application of that paper work."
ALAEA spokesman Stephen Re, who gave evidence on behalf of engineers, said it highlighted concerns with the accreditation of overseas facilities.
Mr Re said evidence suggested there was no process for the aviation authority to go to look at an aeroplane being worked on in an overseas facility.
July 2, 2008 - 10:43AM
Advertisement
A Senate inquiry into the country's aviation safety watchdog has heard serious concerns about the quality of overseas aircraft maintenance facilities.
The inquiry is being conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's (CASA) management and regulations, and ways in which its regulations could be tightened to enhance its role as a safety regulator.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA), an organisation that represents the industrial, technical and professional interests of engineers and other maintenance workers, has told senators the quality of overseas work was not up to standard.
They gave an example of an aircraft that returned from overseas last week with 60 defects that should have been fixed.
"That aircraft has had faults such as earth wires not being connected which caused an electric shock to flight attendants in the galley," ALAEA Senior Industrial Officer Gary Norris said.
Mr Norris said it was a "major concern", given the work had been signed off by the airline, which had implemented a customer inspection requirement in its commercial contract.
"Upon further investigation we were advised by our members, and we haven't had the documentation to verify it but we had been advised that, effectively, the securing bolts for the actual galley assembly may not have been secured," he told the inquiry.
"And we're looking at a mass of approximately 300 kilos in an aircraft that hasn't been secured properly.
"This is a major concern in that the paper system that, in fact, the airlines rely on to ensure the work's done, is not making the link to the practical application of that paper work."
ALAEA spokesman Stephen Re, who gave evidence on behalf of engineers, said it highlighted concerns with the accreditation of overseas facilities.
Mr Re said evidence suggested there was no process for the aviation authority to go to look at an aeroplane being worked on in an overseas facility.
Following on from The Masked Goatriders post things are starting to look a bit wobbly for QE management and CASA. Finally someone is asking our questions and starting to get a real picture of what is happening not the diatribe the Company stooges have been handing out.
Hopefully the days of lies and corruption are coming to an end
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Quite sensational indeed! I'd like a dollar for each static electrical shock I have experienced in my 33 years of flying.
And another thing. The galley not bolted in correctly, what sarcastic comment would you make of that? Or not having full rudder travel? Or kinked equipment cooling ducts causing your primary flight displays to blank? Or 4 knobs of throttle stagger? Or abraded cockpit windows? Or the B743 that was flown back from HAECO empty on an ATP because the flaps couldn't be extended past Flaps 5? Or staples in the emergency lighting wiring? Or tasks certified for that hadn't actually been done? Or an EA issued to defer parts of a severe turbulence inspection due to a supposed lack of equipment (i.e. a stand, a torch and an Eyeball Mark1)?
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Or staples in the emergency lighting wiring?
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Well stated Konehead. It is no laughing matter.
If something isn't done soon to end this farcical overseas maintenance then God only knows what will happen next.
If something isn't done soon to end this farcical overseas maintenance then God only knows what will happen next.
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Is anyone else out there experiencing Moderators stalling your posts being viewed?
It's happened to me a couple of times now and by the time the post is shown it's contents is buried back inside the thread, resulting in people not reading it and it's relevance in the thread are lost.
It's happened to me a couple of times now and by the time the post is shown it's contents is buried back inside the thread, resulting in people not reading it and it's relevance in the thread are lost.
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Sounds like our boys have made themselves known to the Senate
Overseas maintenance a 'major concern'Email Print Normal July 2, 2008 - 10:43AM
A Senate inquiry into the country's aviation safety watchdog has heard serious concerns about the quality of overseas aircraft maintenance facilities.
The inquiry is being conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's (CASA) management and regulations, and ways in which its regulations could be tightened to enhance its role as a safety regulator.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA), an organisation that represents the industrial, technical and professional interests of engineers and other maintenance workers, has told senators the quality of overseas work was not up to standard.
They gave an example of an aircraft that returned from overseas last week with 60 defects that should have been fixed.
"That aircraft has had faults such as earth wires not being connected which caused an electric shock to flight attendants in the galley," ALAEA Senior Industrial Officer Gary Norris said.
Mr Norris said it was a "major concern", given the work had been signed off by the airline, which had implemented a customer inspection requirement in its commercial contract.
"Upon further investigation we were advised by our members, and we haven't had the documentation to verify it but we had been advised that, effectively, the securing bolts for the actual galley assembly may not have been secured," he told the inquiry.
"And we're looking at a mass of approximately 300 kilos in an aircraft that hasn't been secured properly.
"This is a major concern in that the paper system that, in fact, the airlines rely on to ensure the work's done, is not making the link to the practical application of that paper work."
ALAEA spokesman Stephen Re, who gave evidence on behalf of engineers, said it highlighted concerns with the accreditation of overseas facilities.
Mr Re said evidence suggested there was no process for the aviation authority to go to look at an aeroplane being worked on in an overseas facility.
Overseas maintenance a 'major concern'Email Print Normal July 2, 2008 - 10:43AM
A Senate inquiry into the country's aviation safety watchdog has heard serious concerns about the quality of overseas aircraft maintenance facilities.
The inquiry is being conducted to assess the effectiveness of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's (CASA) management and regulations, and ways in which its regulations could be tightened to enhance its role as a safety regulator.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA), an organisation that represents the industrial, technical and professional interests of engineers and other maintenance workers, has told senators the quality of overseas work was not up to standard.
They gave an example of an aircraft that returned from overseas last week with 60 defects that should have been fixed.
"That aircraft has had faults such as earth wires not being connected which caused an electric shock to flight attendants in the galley," ALAEA Senior Industrial Officer Gary Norris said.
Mr Norris said it was a "major concern", given the work had been signed off by the airline, which had implemented a customer inspection requirement in its commercial contract.
"Upon further investigation we were advised by our members, and we haven't had the documentation to verify it but we had been advised that, effectively, the securing bolts for the actual galley assembly may not have been secured," he told the inquiry.
"And we're looking at a mass of approximately 300 kilos in an aircraft that hasn't been secured properly.
"This is a major concern in that the paper system that, in fact, the airlines rely on to ensure the work's done, is not making the link to the practical application of that paper work."
ALAEA spokesman Stephen Re, who gave evidence on behalf of engineers, said it highlighted concerns with the accreditation of overseas facilities.
Mr Re said evidence suggested there was no process for the aviation authority to go to look at an aeroplane being worked on in an overseas facility.
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The Reverend
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Konehead,
I fail to see how an open bond on a galley unit would make it live with 115VAC. If that were the case and the galley properly bonded to ground, it would trip the galley power circuit breaker. So if the flight attendant in fact received a 115AC volt shock, there had to be a fault other than a missing bonding strap, or he received a static discharge shock.
The leaked news paper report is very poorly written as usual when it comes to reporting matters of aviation. In my opinion, it is sensationalist and will not serve your deserved cause. All it will do is to frighten the uninformed man in the street who will then happily fly on Asian carriers whose aircraft are so poorly maintained by the very MORs that you decry.
You have expressed faith in your ALAEA who have pleaded with you to use moderation and drop the war cries. Why don't you just leave it to them to sort out your problems?
It wasn't static electricity. If the galley isn't grounded to the airframe, then parts of it will be live. The flight attendant then becomes the path to ground.
The leaked news paper report is very poorly written as usual when it comes to reporting matters of aviation. In my opinion, it is sensationalist and will not serve your deserved cause. All it will do is to frighten the uninformed man in the street who will then happily fly on Asian carriers whose aircraft are so poorly maintained by the very MORs that you decry.
You have expressed faith in your ALAEA who have pleaded with you to use moderation and drop the war cries. Why don't you just leave it to them to sort out your problems?
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I fail to see how an open bond on a galley unit would make it live with 115VAC.
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I fail to see how an open bond on a galley unit would make it live with 115VAC.
If that were the case and the galley properly bonded to ground, it would trip the galley power circuit breaker.
So if the flight attendant in fact received a 115AC volt shock, there had to be a fault other than a missing bonding strap, or he received a static discharge shock.
The Reverend
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Konehead, I'm not saying that lack of bonding is a non event but if the flight attendant received a full 115volt zap by providing a ground path, there had to be enough earth leakage if not a dead short to have tripped the earth leakage or power cct. breaker. My point really was as stated in my previous post. I don't think that leaking unsubstantiated reports (which this one is until confirmed by an investigation report), to a totally uninformed newspaper reporter, is productive. Nobody is infallible. Many moons ago, long time before MORs were even thought of and all QF LAMEs were safe and sound, I was doing my pre departure walkaround checks on a company 742 at SIT. I discovered a fist size hole in the lower surface of the left inboard aileron. The aircraft had been signed out serviceable for flight by Qantas engineering who were our handling agents. I called the attention to one of the departure crew who told me it was nothing to worry about as it was only a small hole. I refused to accept this and asked him to rectify it. I was informed that we'd be delayed for several hours if he called out the sheeties. I then asked him to cover the hole with speed tape and enter an ADD in the log. He again refused so I said well, bring me a roll of speed tape and a stand and I'll do it myself wherupon I was informed that if I do that, I can depart the aircraft myself. In the end I sought out the leading hand and the hole was covered with speed tape. Not long after that we established our own engineering support which is still in place. I really hope that LAME is not one of the posters on this thread. Maybe I should have got in touch with the press?