Bombardier Grounds Higher-Time Planes Until Inspections

One accident may be an anomaly... but two accidents in a matter of days, involving the same carrier, aircraft-type AND, apparently, the same problem, may mean something more. In the wake of a second landing gear-related incident in three days involving a Bombardier Q400 operated by Scandanavian Airlines, the Canadian planemaker recommended the grounding of approximately 60 planes until safety inspections are carried out.

The second incident occurred Wednesday, and involved a SAS Q400 landing at Vilnius, Lithuania. Flight SK2748 bound to Palanga was diverted when the crew experienced 'technical difficulties,' according to the airline.

Just as with an incident three days before involving another of the carrier's turboprops -- this one landing at Aalborg, Denmark -- the aircraft's right main landing gear collapsed on landing, according to Swedish media sources.

As ANN reported, five persons onboard the plane in Denmark were injured while evacuating the plane after it veered off the runway, and parts of the right propeller separated from the hub and impacted the fuselage. There were no reported injuries among the 52 passengers and crew onboard Wednesday's flight, according to SAS.

Immediately after Wednesday's accident, Bombardier and Goodrich, the landing gear manufacturer, issued an All Operator Message (AOM) that operators of Q400 aircraft having accumulated more than 10,000 landing gear cycles be grounded until an inspection of the landing gear is carried out. The AOM affects about 60 of the over 160 Q400s in service.

Bombardier also reports Transport Canada (TC) has been briefed on both events and the planemaker is working with TC to establish the requirement for further corrective actions, if required.

"A Bombardier Air Safety representative has been dispatched to the second incident site to provide assistance to the investigating authorities," the manufacturer said. "Until such time as investigations are concluded by the relevant aviation authorities, Bombardier cannot speculate or comment as to the cause of these incidents."

The Bombardier Q400 is an updated variant of the DeHavilland Canada DHC-8 ("Dash 8") twin-turboprop regional airliner. The original Dash 8 -- itself a reeenginered offspring of the four-engine DHC-7 -- entered service in 1983; the "Q" series (for "quiet," as the aircraft now featured active noise suppression measures) entered service in 1996.

Somewhat unusual for a passenger aircraft -- thought not unique -- the DHC-8 and Q400 sport rearward-retracting (i.e., with the direction of travel) maingear.

FMI: www.q400.com, www.flysas.com, www.goodrich.com