Flight Safety Foundation Aviation Mechanics Bulletin 2001

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November–December 2001

Fatigue Evaluation Indicates Most Aviation Maintenance Personnel Obtain Insufficient Sleep 24 pages. [PDF 294K]

An FAA evaluation of the effects of fatigue and workplace environmental factors on 500 maintenance personnel revealed that most slept less than the 7.5–8 hours a day recommended by specialists and that 50 percent sometimes felt tired at work. Thirty percent said that fatigue had a negative effect on their work performance.

September–October 2001

Inadequate Shot Peening Cited in Two Failures of Left-main Landing Gear on Fokker 100 24 pages. [PDF 132K]

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said that the two incidents, which occurred three months apart in the same airplane, involved cracks in parts of the landing gear that hadbeen repaired and in areas where shot peening was faulty.

July–August 2001

Improper Assembly Of Trim Actuator Causes In-flight Separation of Stabilizer 24 pages. [PDF 138K]

All three people on board were killed when the Westwind struck the ground out of control. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said that the flight was the first after maintenance that included disassembly and reassembly of the trim-actuator unit.

May–June 2001

Fractured Bolts Blamed for Loss of Control of Two Helicopters 24 pages. [PDF 140K]

The U.K. Air Accidents Investigation Branch said that both Agusta A109E Power accidents in England — and a similar accident in Spain — occurred after maintenance during which the swash-plate scissors-link assembly was installed incorrectly.

March–April 2001

Incorrect Installation of Battery Cable Blamed for Fire That Destroyed Helicopter 24 pages. [PDF 449K]

The accident report said that the auxiliary battery paralleling cable was not attached to the positive post of the main battery after maintenance and that later, during flight, the current arced from the unattached cable through the battery compartment to ignite flammable material in the adjacent baggage compartment.

January–February 2001

Documentation, Inspection, Workload Problems Cited in Incorrect Installation of Aileron-trim Cables 24 pages. [PDF 395K]

The pilot of a Jetstream 41 realized when he applied aileron trim shortly after takeoff on a maintenance test flight that the trim system was operating in reverse.