An investigation into the emergency landing of an El Al Boeing 777 a month ago revealed that the damage to the plane may have been caused while it was being refurbished in Singapore, a report carried out by the Transportation Ministry’s chief aerial incident investigator, Yitzhak Raz, has revealed.
On May 22, El Al’s flight 027 to Newark took off just after midnight. Immediately after take off, as the plane was retracting the wheels, it was discovered that the left wheel wasn’t locking into position.
Upon discovering the malfunction, the plane’s pilots informed the control tower of the situation and prepared for an emergency landing at Ben Gurion Airport.
The jet’s fuel was dumped at sea ahead of the landing. The plane was also examined by Air Force jets before being allowed to head in for landing.
An inspection of the plane carried out upon landing revealed that the left side of its landing gear in the undercarriage was broken. In spite of the problem, the pilots managed to land the plane safely.
The initial findings released Monday point to the possibility that a refurbishment of the undercarriage in Singapore led to what would later cause the malfunction. “This damage could explain the means of the malfunction without any findings pointing to an additional malfunction that occurred earlier or later,” Raz wrote in the report.
He also emphasized that the source of the malfunction has been located but the reason behind it is as yet unclear.
Raz wrote that according to the evaluation, the fault was specific to the left-side landing gear of that specific plane, but in order to remove every shadow of doubt, other planes in the world would be examined. He added that the final findings would most likely produce additional instructions and directions.
The investigation will continue in two weeks in Singapore with representatives from the US’s NTSB, FAA and Boeing. Future directives and procedures will be decided upon when the complete findings are released.
(Source: YNET)
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5 Responses
point should be taken not to get your plane fixed in Moslem countries. This should be investigated as possible terrorist act.
Moslem country? About 15% of Singapore’s population are Muslims.
Singapore is not a Moslem country, by any stretch of the imagination. There are very few Moslems there. Most of the people are of either Chinese, Indian, or Malaysian descent, and the dominant religions are forms of Buddhism. You ought to get your facts straight before you speak. My bet is you’ve never been to Singapore, or even read about it. It’s actually very nice, but very crowded.
I don’t think Singapore is a Muslim country … YET…
Sorry Mr Torahtotty, but that is nonsense.
I I work in the industry and have seen the pictures of the landing gear and this is most likely a typical case of accidental damage that was in a location that could not be picked up.
the landing gear is comprised of the wheels which are attached to a truck (component that on the 777 holds all 6 wheels and can pivot up and down – if you watch a plane come in for landing you will see the back wheels hanging lower than the front ones, but once the plane lands they all sit straight)
the truck is attached to a vertical “shock strut” which is a massive shock absorber that runs from the truck up into the wing.
at the top of the shock strut is a “trunnion”, a horizontal tube that is welded to the top of the shock strut and runs forward/aft. this trunnion has a large bearing at the front and back which is how it is connected to the wing (the bearings sit in houses built into the beams of the wing).
when the undercarraige retracts or extends the whole thing pivots around the trunnion.
in this case the trunnion had cracked through at one of the mounting points which meant that it was no longer properly connected to the plane wing and could/should have torn out when the plane landed.
the whole undercarraige has to be exceedingly strong because it takes the whole weight of the plane. for that reason it is made from very strong steel. the problem with high strength steel is that it is also brittle and susceptible to damage.
each time the undercarraige is removed for overhaul it is very carefully checked for damage which could become problematic in the future.
it is likely that when the undercarraige was put back in, the trunnion was nicked by something (maybe a spanner fell on it and caused a small spot of damage) and this grew to be a major problem.
because the material is brittle, a small scratch in the wrong place can, with time, grow into a large crack. once the crack gets big enough that the part can no longer withstand the loads of landing it will break.
now back to your theory…
there are many checks that are done to make sure there is no damage before the undercarraige is put back in, and obviously no one noticed this scratch (that’s all it may have needed for the trunnion to eventually crack through).
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that someone did this on purpose, but chances are that that’s unlikely.
would you prefer that ElAl did their maintenance in Germany with Luftansa? not every airline is able to do heavy maintenance or willing to do it themselves due to the costs.