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Aussie engineers call for all Qantas Boeing 737 aircraft to be grounded

(Xinhua)    13:11, October 31, 2019

SYDNEY, Oct. 31 -- The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) are calling for all 75 Qantas 737-800 aircraft to be grounded on Thursday, after a second plane was found to have structural cracks.

Undertaking inspections on 33 of its 737 aircraft fleet which have flown more than 22,600 flights, a Qantas spokesperson told local media on Wednesday that a crack had been discovered in one of the plane's "pickle forks," where the wings attach to the fuselage.

"Detailed analysis by Boeing shows that even where this crack is present, it does not immediately compromise the safety of the aircraft -- as indicated by the time frame given by regulators to perform the checks."

"Qantas would never operate an aircraft unless it was completely safe to do so," the spokesman said.

But despite the assurances, and with the discovery of a second pickle fork crack, ALAEA Federal Secretary Steve Purvinas said on Thursday morning, "these aircraft should be kept safe on the ground until urgent inspections are completed."

"Qantas had played down the safety concern yesterday by saying it does not immediately compromise the safety of the aircraft, but the U.S. regulators had previously issued advice to all airlines stating that the condition could result in the loss of control of the airplane."

Crack is a global issue for the U.S. aviation giant. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration in October ordered U.S. aircraft operators to inspect planes with more than 30,000 cycles.

"Boeing has previously thought the cracks were only occurring on aircraft with over 35,000 landings, the issue has now been identified on two Qantas aircraft with as few as 27,000 landings and Qantas are yet to inspect the majority of its 737 fleet," Purvinas said.

Experts have blamed a fault in Boeing's onboard automation software for two recent aviation disasters, which saw 189 people killed when a Lion Air Flight went down in Indonesia and 157 dead after an Ethiopian Airlines plane crashed en route to Kenya.

But despite the calls, Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority spokesman Peter Gibson told the Australian Newspaper, "we have no concerns."

"Yes it's a serious problem, but it's being dealt with seriously and in the appropriate way," he said.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)(Web editor: Wen Ying, Bianji)

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