File this in the Bombardier "just can't catch a break" folder. Today an Austrian Airlines Q400 was forced to turn back on the runway at Vienna International due to a faulty propeller part. But kudos to Austrian, which quickly put the incident in perspective by calling the turn back "purely a security precaution", and to CEO Alfred Otsch, who says the carrier's trust in its Q400 fleet is unbroken "particularly as we have carried out around 116,000 takeoffs and landings with the fleet, without any problems".
Bombardier has faced an avalanche of bad press lately (particularly in Sweden), after SAS Group decided to ditch its entire Q400 fleet following three landing-gear incidents, the latest in Copenhagen. Q400 landing-gear manufacturer Goodrich today announced its disappointment in SAS's decision given that the latest incident is still under investigation by the Danish aviation authority.
"Goodrich is supporting Bombardier and the Danish aviation authority in the investigation of Saturday's incident and has sent a team to Copenhagen to assist with the investigation. Goodrich concurs with Bombardier's assessment of the situation which did not identify a systemic landing gear issue," says Goodrich.
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this sounds like sloppy maintenance
"Danish Investigation Board concluded in a preliminary report that the most recent SAS Q400 landing gear malfunction, which caused the airline to pull the turboprops permanently from its fleet (ATWOnline, Oct. 30), was caused by an O-ring that became lodged in the right main gear's actuator, the mechanism that lowers and extends the gear. Investigators determined that this was a different cause than the carrier's two previous Q400 incidents, during which landing gears collapsed as the aircraft touched down. They conducted a detailed inspection of the actuator and discovered that a valve was blocked by the O-ring, the source of which is unknown. The investigation will continue."
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