Tall Story or the Truth
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Tall Story or the Truth
<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">The attached pictures prove the superior dispatchability of the Boeing 747. An Asian airline operator came into FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) for an unscheduled refuelling stop. The reason became soon apparent to the ground crew: The fan on the number 3 engine didn't look so good. This had apparently been no problem for the tough guys back in Asia: they took some sturdy straps and wrapped them around both the fan blades and the structures (note the straps are seatbelts, how resourceful!). behind, thus stopping any unwanted windmilling (engine spinning by itself due to airflow passing thru during flight)and associated uncomfortable vibration caused by the suboptimal fan. Off they went into the wild blue yonder with another revenue-making flight on only three engines! When they got a bit low on fuel, they just set it down at the closest airport for a quick refill. That's when the problem started: Those Germans are kinda picky about this stuff, and they grounded the aircraft. The airline operator had to send a chunk of money to get the first engine replaced (took about 10 days), and the repair contractor had decided to do some impromptu inspection work on the other engines, none of which looked all that great either. The result: a total of 3 engines were finally changed on this plane before it was allowed to fly again.</font>
