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."

FMI: www.iai.co.il