Technical Safety

These are the Technical Safety news bulletins issued by Flight Safety Foundation during 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005.

They are in Adobe® Acrobat® Portable Document Format (PDF) and require Adobe® Acrobat® Reader™. You may install it here

2005

DateSubject
September-October 2005
Fluid Line Mismatch Leads to Fuel Exhaustion During Oceanic Flight.A high-pressure fuel line fractured from contact with a hydraulic line on recently replaced engine in an Airbus A330. The flight crew, who became aware almost too late that the airplane was leaking fuel, conducted a ‘dead-stick’ landing on an island airport.
July-August 2005
Fatigue Cracks Trigger Failure of TPE331 Propeller Gearbox. The Jetstream 32 flight crew had difficulty maintaining control because of severe vibration. After feathering the propeller, they safely landed the aircraft. The report said that this incident and previous incidents led to a redesign of the bull-gear assembly in TPE331 engines.
May-June 2005
Greasing Errors Cited in B-747 Landing Gear Fires. The report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said that excessive amounts of grease had been applied to the landing gear axles and that some of the grease was an incorrect type.
March-April 2005
Overheated Heater Ribbon, Contaminated Insulation Cited in B-767 Cargo Fire-A report by the Transportation Safety Board of Canada said that water-line repairs during the two months before the fire probably were ‘the catalyst that initiated the … heater-ribbon failure.’
January-February 2005
Misrigged Elevator-trim Cable Cited in Raytheon Beech 1900 Loss-of-control Accident. The problem was apparent to the flight crew within seconds after takeoff, but they were unable to regain control of the airplane, which struck water off the coast of the northeast United States.

2004

DateSubject
November-December 2004
Improper Inflation Cited in Six Tire-failure Incidents, The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch said that more frequent monitoring of tire pressure would increase chances of identifying a seriously underinflated tire before a tire failure occurred.
September-October 2004
The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch cited four recent incidents in which wiring problems were associated with aging aircraft electrical systems and/or maintenance issues.
July-August 2004
Fall-protection Equipment Safeguards Maintenance Personnel working at Height
May-June 2004
Citing three accidents in which fire fighting airplanes broke apart during flight, the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said that maintenance programs had not considered the unique problems that affected these specialized aircrafts.
March-April 2004
The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch said that the correct rivets on a fi tting on one of the Boeing 747’s engines had been replaced with others that ‘failed to serve the design purpose.’
January-February 2004
The Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit said that an ‘unstructured system of shift handover’ during weekends resulted in an inadequate exchange of information between workers on two shifts about incomplete tasks.

2003

DateSubject
November-December 2003
Faulty Wire Installation Cited in A320 Control Problem
September-October 2003
Continued Limits Recommended on Use of Cellular Telephones in Aircraft
July-August 2003
Fatigue Cracking Cited in Boeing 777 Engine Failure
May-June 2003
Aviation Mechanics Bulletin 50th Anniversary
March-April 2003
Faulty Repair of Fuel-control Unit Cited in Engine Flameout
January-February 2003
Turbine-disk Corrosion Cited in HS 748 Engine Failure and Fire

2002

DateSubject
November-December 2002
Personal Protective Equipment Prevents Workplace Injuries
September-October 2002
Report on A320 Decompression Faults Maintenance Personnel’s Work on Air Packs
July-August 2002
Improved Understanding of Human Factors Could Reduce Foreign Object Damage
May-June 2002
MELs for Corporate and Business Aircraft Guide Deferred-maintenance Decisions
March-April 2002
Improperly Installed B-747 Panels Separate on Takeoff
January-February 2002
Internet Provides Information Tools for Maintenance Technicians

To download all 2002 Newsletters (6 files) in a  compressed file (zip) 1,603KB Please Click here

2001

DateSubject
November-December 2001
Fatigue Evaluation Indicates Most Aviation Maintenance Personnel Obtain Insufficient Sleep
September-October 2001
Inadequate Shot Peening Cited in Two Failures of Left-main Landing Gear on Fokker 100
July-August 2001
Improper Assembly Of Trim Actuator Causes In-flight Separation of Stabilizer
May-June 2001
Fractured Bolts Blamed for Loss of Control of Two Helicopters
March-April 2001
Incorrect Installation of Battery Cable Blamed for Fire That Destroyed Helicopter
January-February 2001
Documentation, Inspection, Workload Problems Cited in Incorrect Installation of Aileron-trim Cables

To download all 2001 Newsletters (6 files) in a  compressed file (zip) 1,404KB Please Click here

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