DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
US National Transportation Safety Board denies link with American Airlines A300 crash
Italian authorities are investigating an alleged bogus parts deal involving three Italian spares suppliers, but the US Federal Aviation Administration denies reports that it has issued any warnings to the industry about the companies concerned. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation says it is not involved in the investigation.
The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) says that it has no reason to connect the Italian companies' dealings in second-hand Airbus A300B4 parts with the 12 November American Airlines A300-600R crash near New York, and American says it does not use the Italian suppliers.
The FAA confirms that allegations of criminal dealings are being investigated, but says: "The FAA has not yet issued any warning about these parts to the industry, and such an announcement is not imminent." The Italian companies under investigation are Panaviation, New Tech Italia and New Tech Aerospace. The Garda Finanza (financial police) have placed some of the senior executives under house arrest.
Meanwhile, an NTSB team separate from the one investigating the A300-600R accident - in which the tail fin and rudder separated from the aircraft for a reason not yet understood - is studying two events in which pilots reported "fishtailing" by another A300-600R in flight. Both events involved the same airframe (N50051), which was delivered in 1988. On 28 November another American A300-600R crew had turned back to Lima, Peru, after reporting fishtailing and vibration in the tail of N7055A, also a 1988-build aircraft.
In the first event, on 17 January, the American Airlines aircraft had taken off from Miami for Caracas, Venezuela, when the fishtailing occurred, so the pilots returned to Miami and landed safely. In the second event, two days later in the same airframe, the aircraft was also en route Miami-Caracas, but the crew elected to continue. American took the flight data recorder information from the aircraft and authorised the crew to ferry it back to Miami.
The airline has since removed the yaw-dampers in both the airframes involved for examination at a specialist plant in Paris, and put the aircraft back into service with new units.
A group of 60 American Airlines pilots, 12 of them from the A300 fleet, has signed a letter calling for the airline to ground its A300s, but the Allied Pilots Association - the American pilots union - has disagreed publicly with the move.
Source: Flight International
