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…
FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes
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Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes
#12One 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
Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes
#13One 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…
Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes
#14The 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"
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
#15One 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?
Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes
#16One 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 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
#17That 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.
Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes
#18Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes
#19One 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…
Re: FAA issues emergency directive on 2,000 Boeing 737 NG, Classic planes
#20One 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