This is a bit of a warning for anyone planning on taking a trip to Asia
or Africa anytime soon.
I work for a gas turbine OEM as a tech for experimental turbine
airfoils. I hear these horror stories all the time. Sometimes we get to
see them as well. Note as well that in most of Asia and Africa, there is
no FAA or the equivalent and airlines can maintain their engines as they
see fit. Very scary..................
An Asian airline operator came into FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) for an
unscheduled refuelling stop. The reason soon became apparent to the
ground crew: The fan on the number 3 engine didn't look so good.
That had apparently been no problem for the tough guys back in Asia:
Get yourself some sturdy straps and wrap them around fan blades and
the structures behind, thus stopping any windmilling and thus
associated uncomfortable vibration caused by the suboptimal fan. Off
you go into the wild blue yonder with another revenue-making flight!
Those Germans are so picky that they grounded the aircraft!
After
that, the airline operator had to raise some money (took about 10 days) to
get the engine changed. The repair contractor also decided to do some
inspection work on the other engines because none of them looked all that
great. The result: A total of 3 engines were finally changed on this
airplane before it was allowed to fly again.
