Perils of aviation must be tackled

IN VIEW of the numerous incidents of failure of air safety in our airspace, it becomes imperative for the South African Civil Aviation Authority to check on the quality of workmanship when passenger aircraft are brought in for repairs.

The troubling issue of bogus parts being installed on passenger aircraft is a matter of serious global concern.

Faulty, incorrect or illegal parts have led to multiple crashes globally, resulting in hundreds of deaths.

On September 8, 1989, Partnair Flight 394 crashed off the coast of Denmark, resulting in 50 passengers and five crew members dying.

The crash was caused by the use of counterfeit aircraft parts in repairs and maintenance. Critical aircraft parts made by third-party suppliers are of serious concern.

On average, a Boeing 737 consists of 600000 parts, with each part playing a crucial role in air safety. A critical part made by a thirdparty supplier in China is part no P665A0039-02. It is the blocking, or mount, lug of the 737’s spoiler, a single point of failure (SPOF) part.

If this critical part fails, the entire system will fail, which could cause a fatal accident.

Critical parts made in China are not baked long enough to remove some of the hydrogen, while other safety-critical parts are made of inferior material.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has linked bogus parts to at least 32 general aviation crashes involving 11 or more deaths since 2011.

Although these parts have not been blamed for any commercial airplane crashes, government records show 2868 incidents of standard unapproved parts discovered on commercial planes flown by almost every airline.

Substandard parts are to be found on Boeing 737s and 777s.

More than 300 Boeing 737s, including the Max, may have faulty wing parts that don’t meet strength and durability standards.

As many as 148 parts made by Boeing suppliers could be susceptible to premature failure or cracks.

According to aviation data, 166 accidents or serious mishaps between May 1973 and April 1993 were due to bogus parts.

Some jet parts made for Pratt & Whitney engines are examples of the sort of counterfeit parts that were found in passenger planes and other aircraft. No country or agency tracks the use of unapproved parts, so the magnitude of the problem is nearly impossible to estimate.

Some of these bogus parts look almost exactly like the authentic parts, right down to the official seal.

This menace to aviation must be tackled on a global basis.

FAROUK ARAIE | Johannesburg