Mandatory Inspections After Jet Nacelle Falls Off Of Wing
South Africa grounded all Boeing
737-200s for inspection, after an engine fell of a jet belonging to
Nationwide Airlines, according to the country's aviation
authority.
Phindi Gwebu, a spokeswoman for the Johannesburg- based Civil
Aviation Authority, said Boeing planes at Nationwide Airlines have
been grounded and those belonging to other carriers will be
grounded in two days. The engine fell off the plane with 106
passengers during takeoff in Cape Town on November 7, leading to
the decision to ground the Boeing model. Nationwide's competitors
have been instructed to carry out visual inspections immediately
and full inspections will take place on Nov. 12 to avoid excessive
disruption of flight schedules, the authority said.
These 737s have engines made by Pratt & Whitney, a unit of
United Technologies Corp., according to aviation authority.
Nationwide reported on Nov. 8, the engine on one of its Boeing
737 aircraft ``ingested' an object before falling from the wing on
departure from Cape Town International Airport. The plane continued
its takeoff and made an emergency landing at the airport,
Johannesburg-based Nationwide said on its Web site. The runway was
closed for an hour, causing delays.
"The directive was issued as a precautionary measure,' Gwebu
said in an interview. There are about 31 of the aircraft in South
Africa, she said.
The aviation directive also affects Boeing's DC9 series of
planes, the aviation authority said. The engines were described as
Pratt & Whitney JT8D series.
Nationwide has a fleet of 17 planes, of those, 11 are affected
by the grounding order. The airline, founded in 1991, flies
domestic routes in South Africa and operates a service to London's
Gatwick airport.
Comair Ltd., owned in part by British Airways Plc, has a fleet
of 15 planes, of which 10 are 737-200s. Its discount flight unit
Kulula.com operates four aircraft from the Boeing MD80 series.
1time Holdings Ltd., which competes with Kulula and Nationwide for
low-cost fares, has 10 aircraft, of which six are MD80s and four
are DC9s.
Chicago-based Boeing said on Nov. 8 that it's ready to assist in
any probe. "Boeing is working with the South African investigating
authority to determine the cause of this incident. Boeing stands
ready to support Nationwide and help get their airplanes back into
service," Boeing spokesman Peter Conte said in an e-mailed
statement, according to a Bloomberg story.
"An object, which is yet to be defined, was ingested into the
engine, which caused a catastrophic engine failure,' Nationwide
said then. "The engine-to-wing supporting structure is designed to
release the engine when extreme forces are applied to prevent any
structural damage."
The engine, which had undergone an overhaul, was fitted on the
plane in March, 2005, and has since flown 3,806 hours. The engines
"typically" fly for 10,000 hours between overhauls, Nationwide
said.
The 737-200 first flew in 1968, according to Boeing's Web site.
More than 6,000 of all models of 737s were sold by December
2005.