Thu, Jul 29, 2004
IAI Blamed For Faulty Landing Gear On El Al, IAF Jets
An Israeli Aircraft Industries
division is reportedly under investigation for installing faulty
landing gear components in El Al commercial aircraft, as well as
the Israel Air Force's F-15s and F-16s. The faulty parts could
cause the planes' landing gear to collapse, according to published
reports.
The Israeli newspaper Maariv also reports in its exclusive
expose that the Lod Hydraulic Services division of IAI left
required maintenance work undone and installed uncertified parts in
what an internal document says was an effort to "reduce costs."
Maariv reports the problem first came to light when the Israeli
Air Force complained about non-standard parts in the landing gear
systems of a front-line F-15 and a helicopter. At first, Lod's
quality control administrator told the IAF those parts may not have
been approved, but they were as good as those certified by the
manufacturers. That was two months ago. Less than a week later, Lod
retracted the letter and admitted the parts were defective.
Two weeks ago, El Al discovered the landing gear on at least one
of its Boeing jetliners was fitted with non-standard parts. Lod
didn't deny the airline's claim. The aircraft in question was
grounded pending safety tests.
The discovery of the non-standard parts installations and the
possibility of landing gear collapse has also brought to light
weaknesses in Israel's Civil Aviation Administration. When
Administrator Udi Zohar was asked how Lod could have gotten away
with installing faulty, non-standard parts, he said,
"Theoretically, we ought find everything. I cannot say how it
happened that we missed this. Of course we should find all of the
faults but are we capable of it? That’s an interesting
question. I have only been in this job for six weeks. If the
administration goes where I would like it to go, we will soon be
able to uncover these shortcomings."
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