Faulty Landing Gear Parts? Not April Fools

This is not a really comforting story and maybe we could say "April Fools!" but we cannot. The FAA is investigating a Miami, Florida maintenance firm (AAR) that allegedly sent out rusty (spoons) substandard landing gear parts used on hundreds of Boeing's wide body aircraft. The FAA's notice details more than 300 instances when the firm shipped "unapproved" parts for use on a Boeing aircraft in recent years.

Also, the FAA said the landing gear parts failed to comply with maintenance manuals and a 2001 safety directive. Fortunately, no accidents have been caused by the affected parts, but US Airways, also an AAR customer, voluntarily removed several parts after one of its B757 had a partial landing gear failure in October 2007 which was apparently officially classified as an incident.

Apparently, the problem is that the parts were painted with enamel paint to structural components, which is against FAA regs. The reason paint is not supposed to be applied to these certain parts is because the paint can hide potential corrosion which could then lead to a accident from a concealed defect.

For the second time today, I smell more inspections. What is the deal with all the uncovering of missed inspections, bad parts, wiring issues, and nipple rings? Maybe the Feds were taking a nap or need additional help.

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