Wed, Nov 29, 2006
Clogged Fuel Filters Lead To Cancelled Flights
American Airlines was forced to ground 22 of its mainstay
MD-80-series airliners earlier this month, after paint chips from
recently installed replacement fuel tank covers made their way into
the planes' fuel filters.
The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports American discovered the
problem November 6, after warning lights on two MD-83s alerted
pilots to the problem while inflight. Those planes completed their
flights without incident, and the planes were then flown to
American's maintenance center in Tulsa, OK.
Workers at the maintenance base quickly found the source of the
problem: paint was flaking off fuel tank access covers recently
installed on those planes. American began to fabricate its own
covers this year, after the original equipment covers wore out...
and stock replacements are no longer available.
Each MD-80 has 30 such covers, American spokesman John Hotard
said. Maintenance crews inspected all 32 airliners that received
the replacement covers since spring, and found paint chips flaking
off the backs of the covers on 22 planes.
Crews thoroughly cleaned those covers, and reinstalled them
before putting the planes back into service. The groundings led to
some cancelled flights, although Hotard did not give exact
numbers.
American has since changed the process for painting the access
panels, so paint won't flake off of them.
McDonnell-Douglas MD-80s (a catch-all term for MD-82- and
MD-83-type aircraft) by far comprise the largest portion of
American's fleet. More than 300 of the airliners are in service
with the Fort Worth-based airline.
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