French investigators have revealed evidence of fatigue on a retaining bolt from the Fokker F-27 that sustained serious damage when a propeller blade passed completely through the fuselage.
The blade from the left-hand Rolls-Royce Dart engine came away shortly after the freighter, operated by MiniLiner on behalf of Europe Airpost, took off from Paris Charles de Gaulle on 25 October.
Dart engines are typically capable of rotation speeds up to 15,000rpm. The energy of the blade was such that it cut through the left side of the fuselage and exited through the right side, badly damaging the aircraft structure.
Investigation authority BEA says the blade cut the electrical power supply cables to the flight recorders as is passed through the fuselage. “As a result, no data from the event was recorded after the cables were cut,” it states.
Despite the damage to the twin-engined aircraft its crew managed to return to Paris without further incident.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
