Mon, Aug 31, 2015
Aircraft Required A 'Nose Job' After Being Caught In A Storm
An American Airlines Dreamliner that was damaged by a hail storm July 27th in China will be placed back in service in the next week or so, according to the airline.
The most visible damage was to the radome of the airplane, which was replaced with a temporary radome American flew to Beijing. But there was also some slight damage to the underside of one of the airplane's wings, which was repaired with speed tape for a ferry flight to Tokyo, according to the Dallas Morning News' aviation blog. There, side windshields that had been damaged were repaired. Kevin Mosblech, 787 line maintenance manager for American, said only the outer panes were cracked, and the integrity of the windshields was maintained throughout the flight.
Following that repair the plane was ferried back to Dallas/Fort Worth, where additional inspections were done.
In all, American said, the plane suffered damage to the leading edges of the wings and horizontal and vertical stabilizers. The damage to the tailplanes likely happened when ice ingested into the engines blew out through a "snow cone" as intended. Thick chunks of ice that were shed when the radome collapsed likely caused the damage to the side windshields, Mosblech said. The front windshields were not damaged, he said.
In all, American mechanics have removed 44 panels from the aircraft and shipped them to the airline's composite shop in Tulsa. Some have already been repaired and reinstalled. Repairs to the wings and stabilizers are also still being completed.
American said the damaged airplane is expected to return to service in another week or so.
(Images posted to Twitter by American Airlines)
More News
Improvements Stack as Brand Readies for Mass Production Samson Sky updated followers on its flying car progress, describing some of the travails of the wind tunnel as they get clos>[...]
LAHSO An acronym for “Land and Hold Short Operation.” These operations include landing and holding short of an intersecting runway, a taxiway, a predetermined point, or>[...]
Dave Juwel's Aviation Marketing Stories ITBOA BNITBOB ... what does that mean? It's not gibberish, it's a lengthy acronym for "In The Business Of Aviation ... But Not In The Busine>[...]
Aero Linx: Space Medicine Association (SMA) The Space Medicine Branch was founded in 1951 as the first constituent organization of the Aerospace Medical Association (AsMA). In 2006>[...]
Back-Taxi A term used by air traffic controllers to taxi an aircraft on the runway opposite to the traffic flow. The aircraft may be instructed to back-taxi to the beginning of the>[...]