They say don't ask and don't tell. But you have to see this. Don't ask
where we got this. "For anybody who is not familiar with a jet
engine, a jet fan blade should be perfectly smooth. You might want to
think twice the next time you fly on a Chinese Airline.
A pilot for a Chinese carrier requested permission and landed at FRA,
(Germany) for an unscheduled refueling stop. The reason became soon apparent
to the ground crew: The Number 3 engine had been shutdown previously because
of excessive vibration, and because it didn't look too good. It had apparently
been no problem for the tough guys back in China: as they took some sturdy
straps and wrapped them around two of the fan blades and the structures
behind, thus stopping any unwanted windmilling (engine spinning by itself
due to airflow passing through the blades during flight) and associated
uncomfortable vibration caused by the suboptimal fan.
Note that the straps are seat belts....how resourceful! After making the
"repairs", off they went into the wild blue yonder with another
revenue-making flight on only three engines! With the increased fuel consumption,
they got a bit low on fuel, and just set it down at the closest airport
(FRA) for a quick refill.
That's when the problems started: The Germans, who are kind of picky about
this stuff, inspected the malfunctioning engine and immediately grounded
the aircraft. Besides the seat belts, notice the appalling condition of
the fan blades. The airline operator had to send a chunk of money to get
the first engine replaced (took about 10 days).
The repair contractor decided to do some impromptu inspection work on
the other engines, none of which looked all that great either. The result:
a total of 3 engines were eventually changed on this plane before it was
permitted to fly again."
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Guest: chinski (218 days ago)
If this is true it is an absolute disgrace & the Chinese government ought to be informed. Please give full documentary proof, otherwise it would be interpreted as another round of 'China bashing'.
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Guest(260 days ago)
I'm a safety inspector at Frankfurt International. I wasn't there when this Chinese airline landed; however, I had a few friends who were, and they were appalled at the lack of concern of the Chinese mechanics. To clear things up, the seatbelts were added after the plane landed.
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