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FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

reuters.com

11–20 of 170 posts

Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

#11
post #7

One of the inspection checklist items: Measure the clearance between the flapper bushings at both locations on each engine bleed air 5th stage check valve. If the clearance between the flapper bushings is a minimum of 0.004 inch (0.102 mm) at both locations, the engine bleed air 5th stage check valve at that location has passed this inspection. I knew that aviation engineering dealt with tight tolerances, but boy, it…

[deleted]

Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

#12
post #9
post #7

One of the inspection checklist items: Measure the clearance between the flapper bushings at both locations on each engine bleed air 5th stage check valve. If the clearance between the flapper bushings is a minimum of 0.004 inch (0.102 mm) at both locations, the engine bleed air 5th stage check valve at that location has passed this inspection. I knew that aviation engineering dealt with tight tolerances, but boy, it…

I supposed they'd be using something like this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometre

you mean https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micrometer ?

Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

#13
post #7

One of the inspection checklist items: Measure the clearance between the flapper bushings at both locations on each engine bleed air 5th stage check valve. If the clearance between the flapper bushings is a minimum of 0.004 inch (0.102 mm) at both locations, the engine bleed air 5th stage check valve at that location has passed this inspection. I knew that aviation engineering dealt with tight tolerances, but boy, it…

0.1 mm is a pocket calipers grade tool. Of course they have better ones but nothing extraordinary I think

Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

#14
post #2

The official PDF document is here: https://rgl.faa.gov/Regulatory_and_Guidance_Library/rgad.nsf... I always wondered what the proper terms was for an airplane crash, and now I know: "forced off-airport landing"

A forced off-airport landing is not a necessarily crash. It’s an action taken, usually because of engine failure or imminent engine failure, to mitigate risk to the occupants of the craft. The pilot acts with intention and glides or flys the craft to the ground. They slow the craft down enough to touch down safely. The incident could still be considered an accident if there’s damage to the structure of the plane or injury to passengers.

In contrast, a crash could be a lot of things: two planes colliding on the tarmac, loss of wings, or a controlled flight into terrain (such as flying into the side of a mountain).

Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

#15
post #7

One of the inspection checklist items: Measure the clearance between the flapper bushings at both locations on each engine bleed air 5th stage check valve. If the clearance between the flapper bushings is a minimum of 0.004 inch (0.102 mm) at both locations, the engine bleed air 5th stage check valve at that location has passed this inspection. I knew that aviation engineering dealt with tight tolerances, but boy, it…

Is that just being able to slide a piece of thick paper into the gap?

Or a "feeler gauge" meaning basically a 0.004in thick piece of spring steel.

Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

#16
post #7

One of the inspection checklist items: Measure the clearance between the flapper bushings at both locations on each engine bleed air 5th stage check valve. If the clearance between the flapper bushings is a minimum of 0.004 inch (0.102 mm) at both locations, the engine bleed air 5th stage check valve at that location has passed this inspection. I knew that aviation engineering dealt with tight tolerances, but boy, it…

They've had calipers for literally thousands of years.

I used to be involved in some intermediate gunsmithing work, and we had these tools called 'dial calipers' which have a little gauge you read and you can measure extremely precise things. We used it for getting cylinder diameters or clearances that needed that degree of precision.

I can only imagine that in aviation, there are even more advanced tools, especially with a well-respected corp like Boeing.

I would think also, that when there are these clearance issues in parts, part of the concern that makes it worth raising flags over is the fact that it's consistently off amongst different aircraft. If someone were to bring me a rifle that had some important gas clearance off, I wouldn't be that concerned, just do the work and get it back in the field, but if guys are bringing me the same rifle with the same issue over and over, it makes me really uneasy because it's inefficient for my shop, and it points to carelessness from the vendor, which raises suspicion when dealing with orthogonal issues from the same vendor.

If these flapper bushings are bad consistently, and they had a spec and didn't meet it, what other corners did they cut?

Just my two cents. I don't know shit about aviation, but I can appreciate the systemic concern.

Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

#17

That is surprising. Pandemic or no pandemic, you have NGs and classics going and coming out of storage with a certain frequency. Funny this wasn't found before.

I think it wasn’t an issue before because most airlines aren’t going to keep a plane they have in storage for multiple days. They’ll sell it to another airline. Otherwise they still have to maintain it and pay storage fees plus whatever lease or finance costs are associated with the plane. Boeing runs a finance corporation which is how a lot of planes are “sold.” They have to plan for maintenance windows and unexpected failures but when your fleet is big enough these events are regular enough that you can tune your fleet size to absorb these events without needing idle capacity.

Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

#18
Interesting that the vast majority of 737s were flying so frequently that this was not found earlier. For their entire 20-ish year service life, those planes are never left idle long enough for this part to rust! Amazing. Goes to show how popular and successful the 737 line is.

Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

#19
post #7

One of the inspection checklist items: Measure the clearance between the flapper bushings at both locations on each engine bleed air 5th stage check valve. If the clearance between the flapper bushings is a minimum of 0.004 inch (0.102 mm) at both locations, the engine bleed air 5th stage check valve at that location has passed this inspection. I knew that aviation engineering dealt with tight tolerances, but boy, it…

If it's a gap between two parts that they're measuring, that's as simple as a feeler gauge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feeler_gauge. The set pictured there looks like it goes down to 0.05mm.

Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes

#20
post #13
post #7

One of the inspection checklist items: Measure the clearance between the flapper bushings at both locations on each engine bleed air 5th stage check valve. If the clearance between the flapper bushings is a minimum of 0.004 inch (0.102 mm) at both locations, the engine bleed air 5th stage check valve at that location has passed this inspection. I knew that aviation engineering dealt with tight tolerances, but boy, it…

0.1 mm is a pocket calipers grade tool. Of course they have better ones but nothing extraordinary I think

Micrometers are quite common tool in even hobbyist workshops.
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