Say Latest Gear-Related Incident Not Due To A Design Flaw

A joint meeting between representatives of the European Aviation Safety Agency, Transport Canada, planemaker Bombardier and component manufacturer Goodrich determined Wednesday an October 27 incident involving a Scandinavian Airlines Dash 8 Q400 turboprop was not caused by a design flaw in the aircraft's right maingear assembly.

As ANN reported, EASA invited representatives of those companies -- as well as airworthiness authorities from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway -- to discuss the decision by Scandinavian authorities to decertify the Q400 for operations in those countries.

In a release to ANN, EASA states those authorities will "reissue the Certificates of Airworthiness relevant to this aircraft type in the coming days."

The Q400 came under fire from Scandinavian authorities following three nearly-identical right main landing gear failures involving SAS Q400s in less than two months, resulting in emergency landings. Separate investigations by the Danish government determined the first two incidents -- in Aalborg, Denmark on September 9, followed by another failure in Vilnius, Lithuania three days later -- were caused by a corroded bolt in each plane's landing gear assembly.

However, a preliminary report on a third incident on October 27 suggests that failure was caused by a loose rubber O-ring, which jammed and kept the gear leg from extending. Wednesday's meeting also confirmed that the two earlier incidents were not related to the October 27 incident.

The Agency's Executive Director Patrick Goudou welcomed the spirit of cooperation of all participants, as "a good example of European and transatlantic cooperation in the area of aviation safety."

It's unlikely the meeting's findings will change how SAS views the Q400, however. The carrier has permanently grounded its 27-ship fleet.

FMI: www.bombardier.com, www.flysas.com, www.easa.eu.int