Il mensile aziendale
Up to Speed ha dedicato un bell'articolo su G-VIIO, purtroppo senza molte foto. Non so esattamente come riportarlo interamente, per cui copio qualche stralcio, piu' qualche nota da parte mia prese sempre dalla stessa fonte.
Dall'articolo si evince che, lo stesso giorno dell'incendio, sono arrivati a Vegas il direttore tecnico di Long Haul per BA (che si trovava a Los Angeles), lo station manager di San Diego e, ovviamente, l'NTSB. Il giorno seguente,
A specialist team from BA Engineering Structures, Powerplant and Long-haul Casualty Maintenance arrived on the first flight from London the following day.
The aircraft was under NTSB control, with specialist investigation parties from the FAA, Boeing and General Electric – and the BA team – invited ‘guests’ on the site, providing technical expertise and supporting the removal of damaged parts as required by the investigation.
L'NTSB ha continuato la sua investigazione per sette giorni, dopodiché l'aereo e' stato ritornato a BA e Boeing.
“At this stage, Boeing carried out a complete nose-to-tail damage survey and we used their expertise to form the basis for our decision to recover the plane, [...] “The specialist team used a number of assessment methods, including what is known as non-destructive testing. They analysed the whole structure of the plane using specialist tests to reveal and map every part where heat damage had occurred.”
Questo video spiega, brevemente, cos'e' una NDT:
Alla fine, questa e' la lista della spesa:
together with the engine, five fuselage skin panels, a lower-wing skin panel and the inboard skin of the left pylon that supports the engine were the major items on the aircraft in need of replacing.
Boeing inizia il lavoro:
...Boeing to carry out the work and the manufacturer drafted in a specialist recovery team to install the new parts, using the same techniques they would use when building a new plane. “The Boeing Aicraft-on-Ground (AOG) recovery team has carried out large recovery operations before,” [...] “They are specialists who, when not doing recoveries, work in the factory building planes. Some of the engineers came from the component workshops and are familiar with how the plane, and individual parts, are built. They bring a phenomenal level of expertise.”
Il lavoro ha comportato qualche adattamento strutturale all'aeroporto:
Four short-haul stands were leased from the airport and the perimeter fence was moved to change the aircraft’s position to one outside the airfield operation. This allowed the engineers to access the plane outside the airport’s normal working hours and without clogging up its airside security checks. To create a mobile hangar, a large tent was erected that allowed the team to work without being exposed to the Nevada desert elements.
Sebbene il lavoro sia stato portato avanti da Boeing, non erano da soli:
The Boeing team worked 24 hours a day, seven days a week and were shadowed by a small team of engineers from the BA Long-haul Casualty unit at Heathrow. On site, their role was to support the Boeing team, observe critical tasks, oversee the work quality and learn by watching the Boeing team in action. With the recovery of the aircraft under way, the BA Engineering team turned its attention to parts unaffected by the incident. “Boeing was focused on damage recovery while we carried out the
scheduled maintenance, continuing airworthiness management and creating a specific package of work, which included tasks that took account of the aircraft being on the ground for an unexpected period of time,”
I lavori iniziarono l'11 gennaio. Dopo sei settimane...
On February 27, a little over six weeks after the recovery operation began, the aircraft took to the skies for an elective maintenance check flight. Piloted by BA Flight Operations Director [...] and [...], Chief Pilot Technical and [...] Flight Manager Technical, the plane took to the skies for testing. The process was similar to a new production aircraft delivery from Seattle, but with additional checks for the work done in Vegas. The plane performed flawlessly and was flown to Victorville, California as planned, where it was repainted in preparation for re-entering service.
Fatto il painting...
It then flew to Cardiff, Wales where a planned seven-day Category C check was completed on schedule at British Airways Maintenance Cardiff (BAMC).
In addition to the maintenance, specific technical reliability and cabin excellence work packages were added to the already challenging work package, to ensure that the plane met the highest possible customer expectations. Following its recovery, G-VIIO returned to commercial operation on March 24.
E questo e' quanto. Il responsabile per l'intera operazione e' il direttore tecnico di Long Haul Engineering, che tra l'altro e' anche main sponsor del progetto su cui lavoro al momento; qualche settimana fa, parlando di VIIO, ci aveva detto che, a dispetto dell'aspetto impressionante del danno, tutto era abbastanza superficiale. Ironicamente, con tutto il downtime che ha avuto, G-VIIO e' probabilmente l'aereo con meno ADD in tutta la flotta di British Airways.