Thursday, July 15, 2021

SHORT MECHANIC PLUS IGNORANT MECHANIC EQUALS BENT AIRCRAFT

by Bob Walsh

Last month a Boeing 787-8 was on the ground being serviced at Heathrow. last month  One of the things they do is check the hydraulics.  To do that you are supposed to put a lock pin in the front landing gear to prevent it from retracting.  Unfortunately the lead mechanic is too short to do that.  So he got a buddy to do it.  Unfortunately the buddy put the safety pin in the wrong hole.  

When they operated the hydraulic system the landing gear retracted to flight position while the plane was still on the tarmac.  The nose of the plane dropped to the ground, dinging several expensive things.  The co-pilot and a ground crewman were both slightly injured.

The same thing happened in 2018 to another 787.

A fix is supposed to be under way, by FAA direction, that should make this much more difficult to do by accident in the future.

The lead mechanic used a step ladder or some sort to pin the main landing gear or they would have also collapsed, badly damaging the plane.

Whoops.

1 comment:

Trey said...

787-8 is a really nice plane. Somebody is in deep shit!