British Airways maintenance fail

Mr_Wang

For the price you pay and given the risk you take with strikes etc...

You wouldn't think they'd employ Bodgit & Scarper to maintain their planes :cool:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-22732582

bagand96

You wouldn't.

But if the sh*t hit the fan like it it did here; I'd be more than grateful I'd chosen BA :beer:

Bob_the_Saver

bagand96 wrote: »

You wouldn't.

But if the sh*t hit the fan like it it did here; I'd be more than grateful I'd chosen BA :beer:

I thought it was Jet A-1 that hit the fan

bagand96

Bob_the_Saver wrote: »

I thought it was Jet A-1 that hit the fan

You're better than me... I was trying to think of how to relate it to an engine fan pun!

Mr_Wang

To be fair it could've been much worse....They could've actually got to Oslo.

shaun_from_Africa

A mistake was obviously made as the open latches were missed by at least two different people, but this is something that is very easy to miss and indeed, has been missed on many other occasions in various countries.
The particular cowl catch in question is well known for being a problem area, and there have been a few modifications by the manufacturer and various operators to fix this, but the problems keep happening.

http://www.google.co.uk/#output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=V2500+COWL+LATCH&oq=V2500+COWL+LATCH&gs_l=hp.3...3369.3369.0.5066.1.1.0.0.0.0.265.265.2-1.1.0...0.0...1c.2.15.psy-ab.i-JI05B2voQ&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&bvm=bv.47244034,d.eWU&fp=2ff8f39d2adbdb70&biw=1187&bih=512

This is a small snippet from the UK AAIB (air accident investigation board) special bulletin about the incident.

The AirbusSafety First’ magazine, Issue 14 dated July 2012, contains an article relating to the prevention of fan cowl door loss. At that time there had been 32 reported fan cowl door detachment events, 80% of which had occurred during the takeoff phase of flight.

The full bulletin can be found here if anyone is interested:
http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/AAIB%20S3-2013%20G-EUOE.pdf

Jamie_Carter

bagand96 wrote: »

You wouldn't.

But if the sh*t hit the fan like it it did here; I'd be more than grateful I'd chosen BA :beer:

Why exactly?

telboyo

What you all forget/ do not know is that an incident like this IS A GOOD THING Everytime there is a maintenance error the operator has to report it and investigate it and record the findings. In the aerospace world these things don't just get swept under the carpet, they try to find the reason REAL reason for the incident. It is not just a blame storm. IF someone left the catches open, they will try to ascertain the reaason for it, Human error, lack of training, tiredness, misperception, incorrect procedures, "everyone does it this way", pressure of work, family circumstances, tired ness, poor working environment. All of these factors are investigated, usually there is never just one of the above to explain the error, when the culprit is found they will take steps to rectify the situation by changing things through out the system. It is very rare that there is a single person or process to blame. Aeropspace companies have to report everytime someone makes a mistake or gets close to a mistake, in fact, they are penalised if they do not report/record a certain amount of !!!! ups per year. Everyone involved takes these inciddents as a wake up call to improve their ways of working and very rarely use them as a !!!!!! storm to blame someone else.

C_Mababejive

Over at Pprune the word is that companies have continuously driven down costs of maintenance and turn round times ,that maintenance staff are being driven too hard and that many close to retirement cant wait to get out. Of course this isnt just a BA issue.

stoneman

bagand96 wrote: »

You wouldn't.

But if the sh*t hit the fan like it it did here; I'd be more than grateful I'd chosen BA :beer:

So what, you think only BA pilots would have been able to bring the plane in?
If that's not what you were eluding to then what?

Doshwaster

What I don't understand is that my 6 year old Ford Focus tells me if the boot isn't closed properly. You'd think a multimillion pound aircraft would have an alarm for these hatches.

Besides, let's put this in perspective. Flying is very safe and flying on any British airline is very, very safe. There hasn't been a fatal accident involving a major British passenger airline since 1989.