Aren't engine covers free?
 

I notice photos in the media of grounded airplanes in Europe with improvised coverings on the engines, made of plastic and tape, apparently.

Don't you get a free engine cover when you buy a jet engine? I've always assumed that all those bright red REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT covers that fit so nicely over the engines and other open bits were supplied as free accessories by the manufacturers of whatever the covers are covering. Isn't this the case? Do you actually have to buy them separately?

On a related note, are the covers kept in the aircraft or on the ground?

Logic would say you have only so many covers per base, and when you get all your planes back at base there are not enough to go around

Can't answer if they are free or not (wouldn't have thought so) but bmi keep all the covers and blanks on each aircraft and I'd have thought that most other airlines that used them would also keep them with the aircraft :)

Kevlarcarl; it is the "Spotter's Forum", and it seems a perfectly legitimate question to me.

Not so daft question.

Many airlines have removed them from the aircraft as a weight saving measure to save on fuel.

Result: Aircraft stranded away from their main base were covered with polythene and gaffer tape. Some even used rubber gloves to cover the pitot probes. :ok:

Kevlarcarl, if you hate spotters so much stick to the pro area!
Stop being a pompous a##e.
Spotters can be used as extra security devices around airports etc....

I think theres quite enough security jobsworths around at present thanks, however im reliably informed spotters do make excellent wheel chocks so they can actually be usefull on occasions:}

Spotters also catch aircraft, therefore becoming passengers, which ultimately pays for the crews wages....
So if all spotters stopped catching aircraft, then these aircraft wouldn´t be needed, hence no crew....?

As Turin says, many airlines have removed their kits from the aircraft to save weight.

I've no idea if the engine covers are free though, we have a fleet of over a hundred jets yet i've only ever seen a handful of covers.

Each aircraft we have does have a set of covers for the probes though but generally they're in the kits that have been removed to save weight!

It might look messy but some plastic sheeting with a log entry is adequate for a short period of a few days. Pitot/Static covers are a little more dodgy as they are easily missed if you use the wrong temporary covers hence brightly coloured hazard tape or the aforementioned yellow rubber gloves.

Goes without saying a log entry is made for all of these so they don't get forgotten.

Not supplied with every aircraft. No point, they would never be used until they are in long term storage and then a set would be knocked up. There are a few sets around when a fleet are bought but that would be all. All an aircraft would carry would be plugs and sleeves to stop bugs crawling into and blocking various orifices.

Engine blanks etc
 

There is always one I guess. One, that is, with an over rated opinion of their own importance and a willingness to "put down" others. No prizes for guessing that kevlarcarl, DISPATCHER EXTRAORDINAIRE, is the one on this thread. Go back to shuffling your paper around and understand that your superior opinion of yourself impresses only you kevlarcarl.

Good question, thanks for posting.

I had the same question on Monday when I saw one of our own aircraft hiding from the dust in the hangar with a similar improvised cover next to a sister ship with the red CFM56 covers.

As for you kevlarcarl, you must surely have more than a passing interest in aircraft to be even in this forum so to berate spotters is a little small minded.

Sorry to drift a bit but its a shame that there are more and more people that apparently don't give two monkeys about aircraft filling spaces in the aviation industry.

carl baby, you made my night!!:D

I was feeling a bit blue, but after reading your verbal spillage of crap, oh you made me laugh that you think that much of yourself and/or your opinion on this subject.:bored:

Anthony, good question mate, good replies too folks.
Oh,and carl...keep 'em comin young fella...you are a scream!!! No knowledge...but a real scream!!

I was going to add my views on kevlarcarl, but I see some of you have pre-empted me!

And just for the record, military (RAF and USAF) transport aircraft carry all of their (or at least the ones they can find:)) covers and blanks, just in case they land away from base.

seems to me funny the covers ars not used all the time surely even if the a/c is parked up overnight everything should be covered up to stop debris going in, is this just another case of people being lazy

Not really, it's more a case of not being required for a short overnight stay in this country.

If you're at a station where dust is an issue then it may be required. :ok:

In my days at LHR Tech 1 in the central area we had over 40 a/c a night to service and as the maximum time most a/c stayed on the deck was 12 hours it wasn't worth putting engine covers on them as we didn't have time to fit them and oil levels and other work was required and they were never held on the a/c or in the central area stores , pitot head and static vent plugs were carried in a container on the flight deck as were u/c ground locks and were fitted after the last flight of the day most blanks were for engines in transit to the overhaul facilities or special ones for "5th pod" flights to outstations.
hope this helps:D:D

Didn't anyone notice that prize prat kevlarcarl can't spell?

PS. Good question Anthony.

Airbus deliver a set of engine covers as standard fit.They come in their own suitcase.

best bet with that idiot kevlar is dont rise to his bait, he is like a lot on here who seem to think baiting spotters is ok, dont rise guys