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FedEx Tightens Inspections -- Airbus Warning Prompts Improved Testing of Fleet

Posted on: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By Jane Roberts robertsj@commercialappealcom

FedEx Corp. is inspecting a portion of its fleet more rigorously this month since Airbus told customers routine tests may not be enough to catch serious deficiencies, including damage to one of its own planes.

Airbus gave customers six months or 500 takeoff-landing cycles to complete visual inspections on composite rudders in its 300 and 310 models.

Late last week, the National Transportation Safety Board urged the Federal Aviation Administration to make immediate inspections mandatory - in some cases before the next flight - after undetected damage was found in the rudder of a FedEx plane.

The board said the FedEx incident could be related to the rudder separation last year on Air Transat Flight 961 from Cuba, which was forced to make an emergency landing when its rudder ripped off in midair shortly after takeoff.

The pilots landed the plane with less than 5 percent of the rudder intact.

Thursday, the FAA will issue a formal "airworthiness directive" forcing operators to conduct inspections on the affected planes more frequently.

"I cannot talk about specifics, but the time span will be less than six months," said FAA spokesman Les Dorr.

FedEx is Airbus's largest customer in the world. It has 104 of the 300, 310 series planes in its fleet, although it said only 68 are affected.

The directive will also affect American Airlines.

"The difference in what we've recommended and what the NTSB has recommended is simply timing," said Airbus spokeswoman Maryanne Greczyn. "The NTSB's suggestion for an expedited schedule is, at this point, just a suggestion. It remains to be seen if the FAA will adopt it as a mandatory process."

The issue affects Airbus because its 300 and 310 models have one rudder. Similar Boeing models have two rudders.

FedEx says the extra inspections should have no impact on its operations.

David Webb, head of the FedEx Air Line Pilots Association, says the issue highlights the dual and conflicting roles at the FAA, which is charged with ensuring "the commercial aspects of air transportation proceed unimpeded" but must also mandate time- consuming inspections.

"It takes a large period of time to make inspections," he said. "The FAA is under pressure from operators to not mandate more frequent inspections that take airplanes out of service.

"The NTSB is a pretty neutral body. That it came up with its own decision on this is a very ominous sign that the inspection criteria that the FAA has come up with is not aggressive enough."

John Goglia, a former member of the NTSB, disputes that, saying that while it may have once been true, it isn't anymore.

"A lot of people lost their jobs at the FAA in the previous administration over that," Goglia said. "Steps have been taken in this administration to make things different."

The NTSB investigates air, ground, railroad and pipeline accidents. It does not have regulatory authority like the FAA.

"The NTSB and the FAA agree on a course of action about 85 percent of the time," Dorr said. "We work very closely with the board and our objective is the same. If there is a safety issue, we want to find the means to fix it."

After the Air Transat case in March 2005 - still under investigation - Airbus issued an order specifying a one-time inspection for all its 300 series planes equipped with the modified rudders.

The testing requires the airlines to tap the exterior of the rudder, listening for hollow sounds that indicate a breach in the composite material.

FedEx complied with the testing. But late last fall, when it sent a rudder damaged by an outside vendor to Airbus to assess the damage, the manufacturer found a deeper problem.

A "substantial area" of separation was found between the inner skin of the composite rudder surface and its honeycomb core, along with hydraulic fluid, which can lead to progressive separation and compromise the rudder strength, the agency said.

The NTSB said the tap test likely would not have disclosed the internal problems.

It urgently recommended that the FAA force carriers to replace or repair rudders immediately when disbonding occurs in the presence of hydraulic fluid.

When damage on the rudder is minor, Airbus said the inspections could be done within 2,500 takeoff-landing cycles.

"Contrary to the NTSB opinion, we don't expect the FAA will require inspection before further flight," Greczyn said.

-Jane Roberts: 529-2512

Source: Commercial Appeal, The

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