SAS finds fault with Q400 valves
Friday January 25, 2008
SAS said yesterday that inspections revealed that a majority of SSV valves on the landing gear of its Q400 fleet were defective, thereby relaunching the blame game that started when the carrier removed the aircraft from service following three incidents last fall.
SAS Group put its 27 Q400s up for sale in November following three landings during which landing gear did not function properly. "It was a tough decision, but we had seven years of problems with these aircraft. After three incidents, you have to react," CEO Mats Jansson said last month.
Regulatory bodies and Bombardier defended the Q400 (ATWOnline, Nov. 8, 2007), but yesterday SAS Executive VP-Corporate Communications Claus Sonberg released a statement saying that while the company does not want "to speculate about the reason behind the third accident" while it awaits investigators' conclusions, "it can confirm, however, that our technical department has found problems in 63% of the SSV valves on the inspected aircraft that we have permanently grounded."
SAS said the Danish Accident Investigation Board concluded that "a construction error in the actuators was the cause of the first two accidents" and that SAS "cannot be blamed for not discovering these problems, or the undetected error that caused the first two accidents, in the course of its maintenance work." DAIB issued a preliminary report on the third incident targeting an O ring that came loose from the SSV valve in the hydraulics system. "The SSV valve also has a construction error and is currently being modified by the supplier," SAS concluded.
"There is no new evidence published by any investigation authority that alters the conclusions reached by the DAIB in its preliminary report, and EASA in its statements, with respect to the cause of the O ring blockage that prevented the main landing gear actuator from fully extending," a Bombardier spokesperson told ATWOnline. "While investigations into Q400 main landing gear incidents continue, Bombardier will not comment or speculate on specific issues in isolation, such as the SSV valve, without the context of the final reports."
by Kurt Hofmann and Sandra Arnoult
ATWOnline
Friday January 25, 2008
SAS said yesterday that inspections revealed that a majority of SSV valves on the landing gear of its Q400 fleet were defective, thereby relaunching the blame game that started when the carrier removed the aircraft from service following three incidents last fall.
SAS Group put its 27 Q400s up for sale in November following three landings during which landing gear did not function properly. "It was a tough decision, but we had seven years of problems with these aircraft. After three incidents, you have to react," CEO Mats Jansson said last month.
Regulatory bodies and Bombardier defended the Q400 (ATWOnline, Nov. 8, 2007), but yesterday SAS Executive VP-Corporate Communications Claus Sonberg released a statement saying that while the company does not want "to speculate about the reason behind the third accident" while it awaits investigators' conclusions, "it can confirm, however, that our technical department has found problems in 63% of the SSV valves on the inspected aircraft that we have permanently grounded."
SAS said the Danish Accident Investigation Board concluded that "a construction error in the actuators was the cause of the first two accidents" and that SAS "cannot be blamed for not discovering these problems, or the undetected error that caused the first two accidents, in the course of its maintenance work." DAIB issued a preliminary report on the third incident targeting an O ring that came loose from the SSV valve in the hydraulics system. "The SSV valve also has a construction error and is currently being modified by the supplier," SAS concluded.
"There is no new evidence published by any investigation authority that alters the conclusions reached by the DAIB in its preliminary report, and EASA in its statements, with respect to the cause of the O ring blockage that prevented the main landing gear actuator from fully extending," a Bombardier spokesperson told ATWOnline. "While investigations into Q400 main landing gear incidents continue, Bombardier will not comment or speculate on specific issues in isolation, such as the SSV valve, without the context of the final reports."
by Kurt Hofmann and Sandra Arnoult
ATWOnline