Japanese carrier gets public reprimand for unreported take-off incident, and for use of incorrect parts
Japan Airlines (JAL) has had to improve safety reporting procedures after receiving a highly unusual public reprimand for failing to report a runway incursion, and also for using the wrong parts on some of its aircraft. In the take-off incident, a JAL Boeing 777-200 with 211 people on board began its take-off without clearance from air traffic control.
JAL says it has since "re-emphasised crew check procedures before takeoff" and carried out a reorganisation of safety control systems within its flight operations department as a result of the take-off incident. JAL also says it has "improved internal communications and enhanced auditing of flight operations".
The airline revealed the changes after it received an embarrassing public reprimand from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for failing to report the 22 January take-off incident at Sapporo airport.
The aircraft had been instructed to enter the runway and hold, but began its take-off run and reached a ground speed of around 60kt (110km/h) before it was ordered to abort the take-off attempt by air traffic control. The incident went unreported until 23 February, when the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau heard about it.
JAL has also been reprimanded for using wrong parts on some of its aircraft. JAL says that in August 1996, one of its Boeing 747 freighters was fitted with an upper side landing-gear strut designed for a 747 passenger aircraft and the problem was only discovered in December 2004 through maintenance records. It was replaced in January 2005, after which JAL inspected the landing gear of other 747s and found four similar cases of "inappropriate part usage".
"The struts in question are almost identical in design, [but] the part used carried a different reference number to the part that should have been fitted," JAL says.
"A probable reason for the fitting of the wrong part at the time may be due to an incorrect entry in a 747 maintenance manual covering landing-gear strut replacement procedure. This may not have been corrected in the manual used at the time of the overhaul." The airline adds: "Safety was never compromised, but the use of the wrong part was inappropriate."
In JAL's maintenance department, meanwhile, "countermeasures…taken include a review of maintenance manuals to ensure that they are up to date, and reconfirmation of procedures for reporting changes in maintenance activities to all group airlines".
GRAHAM WARWICK/WASHINGTON DC
Source: Flight International
