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American B767's develop cracks in pylons

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Old 29th Jun 2010, 01:25
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American B767's develop cracks in pylons

FAA asks American to re-inspect 767’s


The Associated Press
Sunday, June 27, 2010 | 12:05 a.m.
The Federal Aviation Administration has advised American Airlines to re-inspect 56 of its Boeing 767 jets after cracks were detected on at least two planes.
American spokesman Tim Wagner says the cracks were discovered in the pylons that attach the engines to the wings.
Wagner says 54 planes had been inspected by Monday. He says the Fort Worth-based airline has sent one of the cracked pylons to an outside company for metallurgy testing.
Wagner says the inspections have not caused any major disruption to American's schedule.
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Old 29th Jun 2010, 01:37
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Not all 767s

Only those made before certain date that I don't remember but seems like 1998; could be very wrong on the date.
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Old 29th Jun 2010, 07:45
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Airplane cracks in service....shock horror......they all do!!! Move on nothing to see here....
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Old 29th Jun 2010, 08:14
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Just a thought, go back a few decades, fork lifts being used to change engines on the DC10's !!!!
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Old 29th Jun 2010, 08:39
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This topic has already been getting an airing for nearly a week here.
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Old 29th Jun 2010, 16:22
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I may well be a humble SLF with a passion for aviation but I remember the fate of Flt. AA191 in 1979 due to a cracked engine pylon.
American Airlines Flight 191 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MP

Last edited by Mr Pax; 29th Jun 2010 at 21:27.
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Old 29th Jun 2010, 19:25
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seavenseas

GMTA
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Old 1st Jul 2010, 15:33
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Cracks on aircraft are not necessarily a safety issue, it all depends on where the crack is, its length, depth etc. Any crack and its dimensions can be referenced to the engineering manuals and decided as to whether or not its out of limits.
I have worked on the VC10, and one can find many cracks in the wings which lead to different categories of fuel seep. Some acceptable, some not. This will apply to the engine pylon referred to here as well.
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Old 1st Jul 2010, 21:42
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I'm sure BA had the same problem after they took delivery of theirs...or was it the early 777 deliveries...my memory isn't what it was.
 
Old 9th Jul 2010, 17:58
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Dash-7 lover said I'm sure BA had the same problem after they took delivery of theirs...or was it the early 777 deliveries...my memory isn't what it was.

Your memory is quite correct. There were some extensive cracks on the early B767`s in B A.

Doubler plates on the internal bulkhead solved the problem initally, I think Boeing redisigned the pylon later.

Tristar 500

Edited to remove double entry Tristar 500

Last edited by tristar 500; 9th Jul 2010 at 20:06.
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Old 9th Jul 2010, 18:15
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Besides the DC-10 accident, AA also had a B727-200 drop an engine in flt.
So IMHO concern is warented.
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Old 9th Jul 2010, 18:44
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Besides the DC-10 accident, AA also had a B727-200 drop an engine in flt.
So IMHO concern is warented.
Several other airlines have also dropped engines in flight and like American's B727 it had nothing to do with pylon cracks.

carry on
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Old 9th Jul 2010, 20:08
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B A never dropped an engine.

tristar 500
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Old 10th Jul 2010, 08:42
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BA never..

...how about back when.. BOAC 911? B707? lost engine, then lots of other parts due CAT. Don't shoot, just in interests of accuracy. Have photo somewhere of this plane as a 3 engine B707 for a very short period.
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Old 10th Jul 2010, 12:10
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You are both right. The LHR - ZRH 707 separation wasnt from a cracked pylon though, the 2nd stage compressor fan disintegrated and blew the whole engine off the wing.

ICAO Aircraft Accident Digest 18-II
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Old 17th Jul 2010, 17:10
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Exclamation Cracked Engine Pylons ?

Why the surprise, the CF6-50C2 turbines are so powerful now that I dont know how those pylons cope with those loads in the first place. The RB211-524s used on test Air Force VC10s, used to bend the fueslage, so there ya go.
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Old 17th Jul 2010, 17:57
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AA lost #1 at ORD, but it was no accident. It was negligence, and criminal. The C5 and L-188 had cracks and lost a few, those were accidents. Whirl and insufficient spar strength. Accidents are called that because there is an element of surprise, they are "unpredictable".
 
Old 19th Jul 2010, 01:01
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Going back to 1987 -

I observed a PAA A310 in the LH barn at HAM being nursed back to health after an HPT interstage seal failure. The unbalance was so bad it made the LPT orbit, so it started chucking blades out the side of the case. Result: trashed #1 engine, severe acne all over the LH underbelly, holes in the stab LE,

...and a bent #1 pylon.
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Old 28th Jul 2010, 05:29
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I'm sure BA had the same problem after they took delivery of theirs...
Dash-7 lover & Tristar 500, my recall of the pylon cracking problem soon after delivery of BA's B767's was caused by Boeing's assessment that the specs submitted by RR for the pylon were "over-engineered" and thus were too heavy. Boeing engineers designed the pylon to the forces that they expected but some 10 months after entry into service, an 11 inch crack was discovered in a pylon (along with smaller cracks in other pylons). I heard at the time that Boeing's insurance picked up the bill for losses incurred by BA during the subsequent grounding of all RR powered B767's and costs for repair/replacement of the pylons.
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Old 31st Jul 2010, 20:34
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I was a year off on the PAA A310 HAM event:

http://www.ntsb.gov/recs/letters/1986/A86_61_64.pdf
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