Cracks in wings ground two 737 NG jets

[bob10]

Not having much luck.


Cracks in wings ground two Boeing jets | News | DW | 10.10.2019 (https://www.dw.com/en/cracks-in-wings-ground-two-boeing-jets/a-50765283'maca=en-newsletter_en_bulletin-2097-html-newsletter)

[Old Farang]

I sometimes really wonder about our American cousins! I worked in the offshore oil industry for many years and some of the terms used there are baffling, to say the least. I also hold a FAA pilots licence, but I am damned if I have ever heard of this before:




Inspectors found the cracks in a part called the "pickle fork,"

[JDNSW]

"Pickle fork (tool)" in Wikipedia redirects to "ball joint", so I'm guessing that it is another name for some sort of connection, perhaps even a ball joint, possibly connecting control surfaces to the wing.

[Old Farang]

154832

The Federal Aviation Administration hasrequired urgent inspections of certain 737 Next Generation planes— the predecessor to the troubled 737 Max — after Boeing reportedcracks in a part called the “pickle fork” on jets being overhauled in China.The pickle fork helps attach the wings to the fuselage, or the main body of theplane; crack inspections have focused first on the most heavily used NGplanes. So far, 686 have been inspected, and 36 of them — or more than 5% —have signs of cracking, according to Boeing. That’s less than 1% ofBoeing’s total 737 NG fleet, when you take into account newer jets with fewermiles on them that will be monitored over time. But the pickle fork is meant tolast the lifetime of the plane, so whether it’s 5% or 1% of planes cracking,that’s too many.

[Old Farang]

154833

[JDNSW]

And that picture makes the origin of the name clear!

[Hugh Jars]

We’re well into checking our fleet, zero cracks so far.

[Tins]

I found this helpful in explaining the pickle fork.


https://youtu.be/HqR55tfIr7Y

[bob10]

Qantas in 737 safety blitz after cracks found in pickle forks in aircraft under 30,000 hrs.


Qantas in Boeing 737 safety blitz (https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/qantas-in-boeing-737-safety-blitz/ar-AAJAGur?ocid=spartandhp)

[Hugh Jars]

Safety blitz [bawl][bawl][bawl]

[101RRS]

While this is an important issue that is being being dealt with through the maintenance system, the media seems to be a bit over the top on this.

Afterall an issue was detected before it was a major issue, the maker sends out and advisory to operators - they check their aircraft and find issues at the revised predicted cycles and they are pulled out of service to be fixed and the maintenance/inspection routines will be amended to fix/detect this much earlier.

Seems all very normal to me - I would be more concerned if nothing was being done.

Garry

[Hugh Jars]

Garry, the media piggy-backs on other stories, such as the MAX, in order to sensationalise the story and blow it out of all proportion.
The other day I read a story about “grounding the whole QF fleet” and they couldn’t even get a B737 photo correct, instead using an A330 tail [emoji23][emoji23]
That’s a shot to their credibility if they can’t even get facts right, like a simple photograph...

[101RRS]

they couldn’t even get a B737 photo correct, instead using an A330 tail [emoji23][emoji23]
That’s a shot to their credibility if they can’t even get facts right, like a simple photograph...

Yes I also saw an item on the 737 cracks but they only showed video of a QANTAS 747.

[ozscott]

Landing at Tullamarine last week before the checks were complete. Rough landing. Joked with the guy next to me about being comforted by the fact that some spokesperson or an aviation expert on the news said even when cracks appeared the wings didn't fail straight away. Human nature to be concerned because we have no control and the idea of falling out of the sky is shocking, but in truth it was still far safer than driving to Melbourne.

Cheers