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2ND IN A MONTH - Wing snag grounds yet another AI Dreamliner
New Delhi: In yet another Dreamliner trouble, Air India’s Delhi-Frankfurt flight on Saturday was cancelled as the Boeing-787 earmarked for the route developed a snag leaving over 150 passengers stranded here. Several of the brand new aircraft VT-ANM’s spoilers – speed retardation devices on the wings that move up and down – became unserviceable and the aircraft had to be grounded. “We are arranging for a replacement Dreamliner and the Frankfurt flight (AI 121 which was to depart at 1 pm on… (epaper.timesofindia.com) Más...A lot of this I would attribute to crew training, and reliance on automation... A few examples: West Caribbean Airways Flight 708, Colgan Air Flight 3407, Northwest Airlines Flight 255 and the list goes on.
An interesting but worrisome news paper story on a very important festival day morning , the festival of colours celebrated by Hindus all over the world
" Dreamliner snag spoils Holi for flyers "
Link
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=CAP/2014/03/17&PageLabel=11&EntityId=Ar01100&ViewMode=HTML
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s unending snags have now poured cold water on the Holi celebration plans of almost 250 people who were supposed to fly out of Paris late on Saturday to reach Delhi on Sunday morning, in time for the festival of colors.Air India’s flight AI 142, to be operated on Dreamliner (VT-AND), had to be grounded just when it was to take off from Paris CDG Airport on Saturday night as the aircraft’s spoilers ...... became unserviceable and the aircraft had to be grounded. ........
AI CMD Rohit Nandan very sternly raised the issue of Dreamliner’s constant snags with Boeing vice-president Dinesh Keskar at last week’s recent Hyderabad air show. The exasperated airline has gone to the extent of asking Boeing to be answerable for each snag. ........
Nandan is reportedly learnt to have asked Boeing to station its personnel in India and explain each and every fault that leads to grounding of Dreamliners. “Whenever there is a B-787 problem, the media rightly calls AI to know why it happened. The answers for that are with Boeing and they better explain the same as our focus at times like those are to minimize passenger suffering. We are getting a lot of flak because of Boeing,” said an official.
Attempts to reach Boeing for getting their version on the endemic problems of the Dreamliners, each time a snag grounds, delays or leads to return of an aircraft mid-way from destination, prove futile. .........
Hello Boeing ! Any body there ?
" Dreamliner snag spoils Holi for flyers "
Link
http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=CAP/2014/03/17&PageLabel=11&EntityId=Ar01100&ViewMode=HTML
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s unending snags have now poured cold water on the Holi celebration plans of almost 250 people who were supposed to fly out of Paris late on Saturday to reach Delhi on Sunday morning, in time for the festival of colors.Air India’s flight AI 142, to be operated on Dreamliner (VT-AND), had to be grounded just when it was to take off from Paris CDG Airport on Saturday night as the aircraft’s spoilers ...... became unserviceable and the aircraft had to be grounded. ........
AI CMD Rohit Nandan very sternly raised the issue of Dreamliner’s constant snags with Boeing vice-president Dinesh Keskar at last week’s recent Hyderabad air show. The exasperated airline has gone to the extent of asking Boeing to be answerable for each snag. ........
Nandan is reportedly learnt to have asked Boeing to station its personnel in India and explain each and every fault that leads to grounding of Dreamliners. “Whenever there is a B-787 problem, the media rightly calls AI to know why it happened. The answers for that are with Boeing and they better explain the same as our focus at times like those are to minimize passenger suffering. We are getting a lot of flak because of Boeing,” said an official.
Attempts to reach Boeing for getting their version on the endemic problems of the Dreamliners, each time a snag grounds, delays or leads to return of an aircraft mid-way from destination, prove futile. .........
Hello Boeing ! Any body there ?
Aviation secretary Ashok Lavasa has asked AI to get in touch with other airlines using the Dreamliner and see if they too are facing similar issues. He has directed AI to examine if these are teething troubles with a new plane or something else, marking the first tough stance by the ministry on the troublesome Dreamliner issue.
This is the second spoiler trouble for Dreamliner in a month. In early January, an AI B-787 had to be grounded in Hong Kong after the actuator of its wing spoilers broke. A spoiler acts as a speed breaker on an aircraft. Without this important device perfectly functional, an airplane simply can’t be allowed to get airborne. A senior AI official said the airline is seeking compensation from Boeing for three counts of the Dreamliner – the over three year delay in delivery of the aircraft; grounding of this aircraft for four months last year and for failure to meet “guaranteed performance” standards of fuel consumption.
This is the second spoiler trouble for Dreamliner in a month. In early January, an AI B-787 had to be grounded in Hong Kong after the actuator of its wing spoilers broke. A spoiler acts as a speed breaker on an aircraft. Without this important device perfectly functional, an airplane simply can’t be allowed to get airborne. A senior AI official said the airline is seeking compensation from Boeing for three counts of the Dreamliner – the over three year delay in delivery of the aircraft; grounding of this aircraft for four months last year and for failure to meet “guaranteed performance” standards of fuel consumption.
Well, at the risk of finger pointing, I don't think this issue has raised it's head outside of AI. They are a speed retardation to a point but are primarily for killing lift on landing, disrupting the airflow over the wing, and allowing the weight of the aircraft settle on the wheels, hence the name SPOILER, as it SPOILS the airflow over the wing. While not recommended, if a pilot knows there is a problem with them and a long enough runway, you can get a plane down if you pay attention to what you're doing.
And what kind of mechanics do they have working on them? Read the one above you before you knock Boeing as it seems they have more trouble that others. Could be a problem like the stolen filters on someone else's 787 AC. Also could be that they are either short of funds, have Airbus trying to sell them replacements of there's at a lower price. Somewhere hidden they have an agenda for something wait and see.
Makes no sense to complain about a reliability rate that is about 1% lower than some of the most reliable twins at a similar early point in their respective development. Makes more sense to fix the much larger number of delayed departures and diverted arrivals, due to the fog issue.
If the Indian fog-related delays are counted against the entire fleet's reliability, that alone may account for a big chunk of the slightly lower average reliability fleet wide. No other country has failed to certify the plane for operations in low visibility. It's hard to understand why the Indians are dragging their feet.