BA B777 barbeque jet to fly agian!

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

Apparently it's doable, so BA are bringing her home. http://www.theaviationnews.net/british-airways-777-which-caught-fire-in-las-vegas-will-fly-again/

[mutley 4,498]

Obviously cheaper than writing her off.

[hlminx 301]

The bean-counters strike again...

[hlminx 301]

Sorry. ..dupe! Mobile posting is being a pain in the derriere today

[brett 2,316]

Deleted the double post Steph.

[brett 2,316]

I'll skip a ride in that one.

[allardjd 1,853]

I'll skip a ride in that one. 

 

 

I'd ride it, but not on the test flights - I suspect there will be many of those.  I'm pretty sure that renewing the airworthiness certificate will cover all the bases.  Hopefully the FAA and the EU air safety authority will not get TOO crazy.

 

This is a positive experience for the industry, developing and validating repair techniques for damaged composite airframes.  This is not the last time a composite structure will suffer damage and if we aren't ready for throw-away airliners, the ability to effectively restore them to safe operating condition after they are damaged is important.

 

John

[dodgy-alan 1,587]

I'm always dubious of major repairs, though of course they happen all the time. When I worked as a coach driver doing crew transfer work, one of our minibuses skdded on some ice and went sideways into a B727 causing thousands of pounds worth of damage. The aircraft was grounded for weeks until it could be repaired. The unfortunate driver lost his Airside driving clearance.

However the worst case of major repair to a vehicle was a double decker Leyland Atlantean Bus in Leeds. One of my colleagues was on a route out towards Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales when he hit a cow that had wandered into the road on a blind bend. The animal came through the front of the bus on the left hand side taking out the front corner, the main entrance doors and the deck, miraculously the driver was unhurt as the cab side door deflected the cow into the nearside front wheel. However in doing so the smashed aluminium framework and fibreglass panels ripped the cow to pieces and the animals innards exploded all over the driver and the interior of the bus. It was complete carnage. Several passengers were treated for shock but agian no one was injured and just needed cleaning up. The bus was recoverd back to the companies main engineering depot at Kirkstall in Leeds and it was deemed repeairable. The entire lower deck front end had to be removed and new compntents fabricated and fitted, Once finished it was impossible to see where the bus had been repaired. However we soon realised which one it was come the summer when the vehicle warmed up and the interior in particular got a bit ripe! Everyone, both drivers and passenger started complaining about the smell of rotten meat coming from the lower deck of the bus. Engineers were called in to find out what was causing it and although they could smell it they could not find out where it was coming from. The general thinking was that some of the blood or fluids had seeped into part of the vehicle out of site and out of the area that had been replaced. Needless to say the drivers refused to take the vehicle out and it was "blacked" by the union. In the end the company had to sell it. Now you may be wondering what this has got to do with an aircraft accident, well the point is that whilst structurally the aircraft may well be sound after repair, but hidden problems can go undetected for a long while afterwards. ( though thankfully the B777 is unlikely to smell of rotton meat!