The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) will return its Beechcraft King Air fleet to service on 4 August.
The RAAF suspended the aircraft from flying on 30 June owing to the detection of strontium chromate, which can release toxins when heated, in the fleet’s environmental control system.
“As measurement techniques and test equipment continually improve, routine maintenance detected strontium chromate inside the Environmental Control System of an aircraft,” says the RAAF in a statement. “Subsequent cleaning of the fleet has been carried out and the aircraft will return to service throughout August.”
Lab tests have failed to detect “concerning levels” of the substance in aircrew.
Flight Fleets Analyzer shows that there are 16 King Air 350 aircraft in service with the RAAF in the training role, with an average age of 11 years. The type is owned and managed by Hawker Pacific.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
