Urgent inspections have been ordered on a batch of Airbus A320-family jets after discovery of an incorrect repair to the main landing-gear.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has identified 19 aircraft on which the inspections must be conducted before the aircraft's next flight.
EASA has issued an emergency directive for the magnetic-particle inspections which, it adds, must be repeated at intervals of 200 cycles or 30 days.
It has permitted a single non-commercial ferry flight to enable the operators to return the affected aircraft to a suitable location for the work.
The decision follows an occurrence in which an aircraft suffered a main landing-gear sliding tube axle fracture.
This was traced to the "incorrect accomplishment" of a repair during previous overhaul of chromium-plated axle diameters, leading to overheat damage and initiation of cracks which led to the fracture.
EASA says a "limited number" of sliding tubes may have been subject to the same incorrect repair, and that a fracture could result in collapse of the main landing-gear.
Several of the aircraft, whose serial numbers have been identified by EASA, appear to be operated by Air China, according to Cirium's Fleets Analyzer.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
