Safety inspections ordered for Boeing 737s
The US aviation regulator is worried the pins that keep part of a popular plane's tail connected to its body could be faulty, and has ordered they be replaced. In the United States, more than 1,000 airplanes of the Boeing 737 are affected and it's estimated it will cost more than $10 million to fix the problems.
Will Ockenden
Source: AM
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TONY EASTLEY: At any airport around the globe you will usually see Boeing 737s. They are one of the world's most popular passenger jets.The US aviation regulator is worried the pins which keep part of the plane's tail connected to its body could be faulty and it has ordered they be replaced.In America, more than 1,000 planes are affected and it's estimated it'll cost Boeing more than $10 million to fix the problem.Australia's air regulator, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority, says more than 100 planes in Australia are also likely to be affected.Here's Will Ockenden.WILL OCKENDEN: The Boeing 737 is the best-selling commercial jet in aviation history. There are several thousand 737s in service around the world, and many will soon need repairs costing tens of millions of dollars.Peter Gibson is from Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority.PETER GIBSON: The United States Federal Aviation Administration is in the process of issuing an airworthiness directive in relation to many 737 model aircraft. This requires the inspection and replacement where necessary of a component in the horizontal stabiliser. This is part of a normal engineering process.WILL OCKENDEN: US authorities say the problems started after a protective surface coating was applied incorrectly to the pins which connect the plane's body to part of the tail.The Federal Aviation Administration has directed airlines to replace the parts, warning if the pins fail, pilots could lose control of the plane.There have been no known incidents so far caused by the faulty part but Peter Gibson says the ruling will also apply in Australia.PETER GIBSON: In Australia we automatically adopt the airworthiness directives coming from the other nations whether aircrafts are manufactured. So United States and Europe, covering Boeing and Airbus for example, when they put out an airworthiness directive it's automatically adopted here.So our airlines know that, they have systems in place to get those directives and they simply carry out the work.WILL OCKENDEN: It's estimated it'll affect 1,050 airplanes in the United States, but in Australia the number is lower.PETER GIBSON: This particular 737 airworthiness directive would affect about 120 737s in Australia, and the operators of those aircraft will- as part of their routine engineering maintenance procedures will do the work that's required under that directive.WILL OCKENDEN: According to Boeing's website, both Virgin and Qantas have about 60 affected 737 airplanes each.Both companies told AM they were aware of the issue, but declined to comment.Peter  GIBSON: This is a part of the ongoing engineering life of an aircraft model, so that the manufacturers are getting feedback from their customers - the airlines - on how those aircraft are performing and they're making adjustments to how they should be maintained - more inspections, parts being replaced at different times, all these things to make sure that the aircraft are being kept in tip-top condition and that naturally we're doing everything we can to avoid problems occurring during flight.TONY EASTLEY: Peter Gibson from the Civil Aviation Safety Authority ending Will Ockenden's report.Boeing says the airworthiness directive in response to the service bulletin on 737 regards the horizontal stabiliser attachment pins has been planned for some time by Boeing, and the work is not linked to any in service events but rather a finding of a surface finish degradation.