The accident occurred at an airport in Senegal. The aircraft had a problem with the hydraulic system, at which point the crew decided to cancel the take-off. The aircraft braked hard to stop at the end of the runway. The Boeing 737-300 model was part of our national company’s fleet, but two years ago TAROM sold this aircraft and three others, the same model, to a company from Saudi Arabia. TAROM reportedly collected $5 million for the entire lot. From Saudi Arabia, the Boeing involved in the accident arrived at the Senegalese operator TransAir.
It is the fourth accident this week involving a Boeing aircraft. On Wednesday, an aircraft’s landing gear was not opened at an airport in Istanbul, so that on Thursday – this time in Antalya – a Boeing 737’s front wheel would explode. Also on Thursday, a Boeing 787 belonging to Air France diverted its route and made an emergency landing in northern Canada, after – in the cockpit – a burning smell was detected. However, the Ministry of Transport has allocated no less than 260 million lei for TAROM to urgently pay the installments of the Boeing 737 MAX airplanes that we bought on lease and for which we have already paid in advance.
That’s as a former safety inspector at the plane maker’s largest component supplier makes terrifying revelations. The man says each fuselage had dozens if not hundreds of defects. Some had no fasteners, others had bent parts or none at all. The fuselage supplier denied the accusations, but the Boeing company kept a suspicious silence. I talked about all this with Sorin Stoicescu, former director of Civil Aviation.
Sorin Stoicescu, about the problems at Boeing
Sorin Stoicescu, aviation expert: Boeing 737 MAX planes are safe planes, planes with which TAROM can make money. The thing with the unfastened rivets, with the panel that came off, with that escape door stopper, those are the hidden vices that the contractor takes upon himself. We made an exception for the Airbus 318s, we forced the French to introduce the hidden defects in their responsibility.
Marius Pancu: Can the Civil Authority order the ground stop for a period of all Boeing planes of all companies flying from Romanian airports? What would be the verification procedure?
Sorin Stoicescu: The manufacturer is contacted, the acceptance is also obtained and then the aircraft can be stopped from flying until those causes that determined a certain event are identified. As a rule, following the investigations of the commissions appointed after the occurrence of a serious aviation accident, the respective measures are taken at their proposal. Governments can take them. The aircraft manufacturer also participates in the investigations.
Marius Pancu: Looking at the series of incidents, we later had a report from the American Federation, which said that the workers were putting liquid soap to seal the rubber on a door. I had two integrity whistleblowers, they said there were hundreds of defective parts. Other employees say they skip tracks to fit in. Does it raise questions for you? Do you find it worrying what we are experiencing with Boeing?
Sorin Stoicescu: We don’t have to worry, the US aviation authority takes particularly tough measures in such situations. Until the manufacturer manages to convince that such defects no longer appear, they do not let the flight go and stop production. Those not in the US are under the jurisdiction of other aeronautical authorities, who maintain contact with the manufacturer. When it is a major defect, the manufacturer is contacted and taken together with the state authorities.
Did you like this article?
Like
You can also follow Observator news on Google News and WhatsApp!
-
