Hence the eventual re-titling.
Airline Geeks 19 Jan 2024
FAA Moves to Allow 737 MAX 9s to Return to Service
- The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has issued a new Airworthiness Directive (AD) that will allow most Boeing 737 MAX 9s to return to service, Aero Crew News reports.
I can’t find the AD to see what the procedures are or how long they will take but the process is moving forward.
The new AD contains no useful details: FAA AD 2024-02-51.
The original AD grounded the MAX9 fleet, period. The new AD is an update to the same AD number and says they’re all grounded until inspected, and if the inspection of an airplane finds nothing abnormal, that specific airplane can go back into service. So that’s the change.
One interesting feature of the AD is that ferrying of uninspected airplanes can be approved by FAA, but only for unpressurized flight.
Neither the old nor current version of the AD includes details on how the inspection is to be performed nor how any repairs are to be performed. Presumably Boeing issued what they call “Service Bulletins” to provide those details. As best I know, those aren’t available on Boeing’s website except to customers.
Cool. Can you let us know what aircraft or flight was involved so we can read about it and avoid the 45 minute video? Thanks.
Airbus A320 but it really wasn’t a fault in the plane. It was an improbable series of events. Even so, Airbus made changes to their systems to make them even more robust after this incidence.
On quick read, there doesn’t appear to be an identified service bulletin yet. This is just the formal posting to the Federal Register, this time with a short public comment period, because the original AD was issued on an emergency basis.
Nothing has really changed, the planes all still need an accepted inspection, this is just bureaucracy doing its thing.
There’s no requirement to use a Boeing SB, if you can demonstrate your own plan/repair/etc as an acceptable means of compliance. The operators can work directly with the FAA (or other regulatory authorities as applicable) for that.
When, where, and what were these events? If you cant give a link to an article or something can you give any info that might enable me to learn what this is about?
So it was an A320. Then what?
Thank you!
Does the A320 trim switch not work when the computer locks the elevator into neutral? And is there any mechanical control between the trim wheel and stabilizer?
I do not know but, in the video, it is mentioned that they used an improper oil which had a much higher viscosity which slowed the mechanism enough that problems happened.
I saw that but they never mentioned hitting the trim switch. Since it’s moving the horizontal stabilizer independent of the elevator I was expecting them to mention the attempt.
And constantly resetting the computer seems a bit sketchy when doing check rides.
There is no “trim switch” in the A320, trim control is either fully automatic or via the manual pitch trim wheel. In normal operations the trim is not touched by the pilot except to set the take-off trim setting during the after start flow.
To expand a bit. The message on the PFD “MANUAL PITCH TRIM ONLY” meant that the only pitch control they had was through the pitch trim wheel. I haven’t read it thoroughly but I understand they did use the trim wheel along with thrust to try and get pitch control. If they’d just used the trim wheel only they might have had been more successful. Using thrust just adds unnecessary complexity.
Agreed that multiple computer resets was not the best idea. Terminating the flight after the initial ECAMs would have been prudent.
I might have missed if this has been posted already.
The FAA has issued a Safety Alert For Operators (SAFO) recommending that B737-900ERs are also inspected as their door plug (where fitted) are identical to the B737-9’s.
Thanks for the SAFO.
What is disturbing is the fact it mentions that at least some 900ERs have been inspected by their operators and have uncovered dummy door anomalies too.
The last 900ER came off the assembly line in 2019, so a number of years ago. Suggesting either there’s a durability problem with the design of the dummy plug securement, or the assembly errors have been happening for a very long time at least occasionally.
Thanks.
is the manual pitch trim cable connected or is it electrically connected in a way that bypasses the computer.
It’s mechanical to the hydraulic power units. If you have a complete electrical failure in an Airbus then you have pitch control with the manual trim, but If you have a complete hydraulic failure, you’re stuffed. The mechanical backup is intended to provide control while you get electrics back on line.
If you have 45 minutes to spare, and, like me, are not as familiar with the inner workings of Airbus control systems as some of our professional pilots here, the video is well worth watching. As usual, Petter explains everything quite clearly for the technically inclined lay person, and because he doesn’t telegraph the final outcome, I found the last few minutes very dramatic and compelling.
Brief summary: four pilot trainees with only 200 hours each in light planes, plus some simulator time, are getting their first chance behind the controls of an Airbus 320. With a flight instructor and two other check pilots observing, each of the four is set fly a series of touch-and-goes and then a full-stop landing.
After several of the students have successfully completed their exercises, an unusual series of faults suddenly leaves the pilots’ sidesticks, the Airbus’s main control device, completely inoperative during a takeoff!
If you still don’t want to watch the video or read the incident report, here’s what happened: The instructor manages to bring the plane to a hard landing, with considerable damage, but all seven on board are fine.
Someone (anonymous) is claiming to know exactly why the door plug blew out.
The juicy stuff is in the linked comment on the article.
TLDR version, the door plug was “opened” to fix other stuff by Spirit and because it was “opened” rather than “removed” it didn’t require an inspection after closing. Securing bolts were never installed.