Airlines gear up for wing check

Mumbai: Airlines like Jet Airways, SpiceJet and Air India Express are gearing up for aircraft wing checks within the next ten days. The move follows the directive issued by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on September 1 to all airlines using the Boeing 737-700, 800 and 900 series of aircraft to compulsorily check their wings.
The directive came into force following a recent incident of China Airlines Boeing 737 catching fire in Japan. The fire was due to suspect malfunctions of hardware in a wing of the aircraft which is believed to have caused a fuel leak, leading to a major fire in the left engine soon after the plane landed on the Japanese island of Okinawa.
Later, the US department of transport’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) directed all carriers to get the wings of these planes checked. India has also got this directive.
The check is basically to ensure that nuts inside the movable slat system on each wing do not fall off and possibly damage the fuel tank as it happened in the case of China Airlines (Slats are panels that extend from the front of the wing to help give an aircraft lift at lower speeds such as during landing and takeoff).
05/09/07 Shaheen Mansuri/Financial Express

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Categories: Safety Sep 2007