Page 1 of 2

Qantas 737s in a pickle

Posted: 31 Oct 2019, 11:39
by Airspeed
Qantas released the news that they found a 2cm crack near a bolt hole where the wing attaches to the fuselage.
Maintenance union says a second aircraft is similarly damaged, and want the whole 737 fleet grounded.
We'll see what happens. :worried: :worried:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-10-31/ ... 7/11657146

Re: Qantas 737s in a pickle

Posted: 31 Oct 2019, 16:18
by Vancouver
Airbus must be relishing all this.

Re: Qantas 737s in a pickle

Posted: 31 Oct 2019, 21:10
by Chris Trott
Interesting that this is just making news in Australia. The Pickle Fork issue has been known and an AD was issued by the FAA 3 weeks ago, which AFAIK was copied by the other regulators. QANTAS should have already completed their first round of inspections by now.

https://www.federalregister.gov/documen ... -airplanes

A good video discribing the issue - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqR55tfIr7Y

BTW - TL:DR it's not thought to be a major issue as the pickle fork can be either patched or replaced and is not a "primary structural element" of the wing attach.

Re: Qantas 737s in a pickle

Posted: 31 Oct 2019, 21:44
by Tomliner
Ben will be devastated! :doh: EricT

Re: Qantas 737s in a pickle

Posted: 01 Nov 2019, 00:41
by Airspeed
Apparently, they've checked 33, and found 3 with cracks in the pickle fork.
Chris, I don't know how long they've been looking at the problem, but it hit the TV news last night.
There was some hysterical rubbish about bits that hold the wings on, but that was soon modified to its rightful minor nature.

Re: Qantas 737s in a pickle

Posted: 01 Nov 2019, 08:53
by FlyTexas
Chris Trott wrote:
31 Oct 2019, 21:10
A good video discribing the issue - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqR55tfIr7Y
Juan always posts very informative videos. He doesn't add drama either. :)

Brian

Re: Qantas 737s in a pickle

Posted: 01 Nov 2019, 17:31
by cstorey
Airspeed wrote:
01 Nov 2019, 00:41

There was some hysterical rubbish about bits that hold the wings on, but that was soon modified to its rightful minor nature.

Hmmm...I would not call the rear spar to fuselage attachments a minor matter

Re: Qantas 737s in a pickle

Posted: 02 Nov 2019, 00:19
by Paul K
cstorey wrote:
01 Nov 2019, 17:31
Airspeed wrote:
01 Nov 2019, 00:41

There was some hysterical rubbish about bits that hold the wings on, but that was soon modified to its rightful minor nature.

Hmmm...I would not call the rear spar to fuselage attachments a minor matter
But I would call Mike's statement a rather amusing exercise in comedy/irony/satire...call it what you will. ;)

Re: Qantas 737s in a pickle

Posted: 02 Nov 2019, 06:18
by airboatr
Chris? Are you still pumping gas?

0:)

Mike
I'm guessing it's a dill pickle but I'll bet it's not kosher.

...

Re: Qantas 737s in a pickle

Posted: 03 Nov 2019, 11:25
by Chris Trott
airboatr wrote:
02 Nov 2019, 06:18
Chris? Are you still pumping gas?
Among my other line service tasks, yep. Got to spend last weekend doing AvGas fueling for the Sheppard AFB Airshow (we have it every other year) so that was fun, especially having Randy Ball and his MiG-17 fly past the Hot Ramp at somewhere in excess of Mach 0.90 at a distance of approx. 150 feet from me.
cstorey wrote:
01 Nov 2019, 17:31
Hmmm...I would not call the rear spar to fuselage attachments a minor matter
The pickle fork structure is attached the front spar, not the rear. Also, my understanding is that it's a secondary "load relief" structure designed to help keep the fuselage located on the wing center section, thus why the repair isn't a major concern (i.e. immediate grounding). The other thing that I don't think has been determined is why these cracks are being found. There is some chatter that these cracks are actually from undetected or improperly assessed heavy landings as the most likely way to get a crack like this is the airplane's nose to be "slammed" down which could stretch the attachment, leading to a crack in the saddle.