Wed, Apr 23, 2008
Fastener Change Performed As Part Of 1991 AD
It now appears a Boeing 757 which lost a four-by-five-foot
composite wing panel somewhere over Maryland late last month,
suffered failed fasteners which were installed as part of an FAA
airworthiness directive in 1991.
The National Transportation Safety Board says that missing panel
-- which flew off the jet March 22, as ANN reported -- was never
located, but adds the Board has found enough evidence in
surrounding components to determine what happened to US Airways
flight 1250.
"Initial examination of these components revealed that two of
the three clips that secured the leading edge of the panel to the
wing had failed due to metal fatigue sometime prior to the incident
flight," the NTSB noted in an update Tuesday. "The remaining clip
failed during flight 1250, causing the panel to separate from the
aircraft."
The board added that a fastener change was mandated in an FAA
airworthiness directive in 1991, and was completed on this
particular 757 by its then-owner, Eastern Airlines. The board says
it was the redesigned fasteners that failed on flight 1250.
Since the March incident, NTSB says inspections of all flying
757s has found problems with wing panel fasteners on several other
aircraft, which have since been repaired and returned to
service.
The loss of the panel has also been downgraded from an accident
to an incident in official jargon, since the plane's flight data
recorder revealed no adverse affect on the plane's handling after
the panel detached. The debris did strike the side of the plane,
however, causing minor damage to the fuselage and cracking the
outer pane of a cabin window in row 19.
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