Why Haven't Airbus A-320s Been Grounded?

After seven (?) incidents of landing gear malfunctions similar to the Jet
Blue incident, why has the FAA not issued an emergency Airworthiness
Directive on the Airbus A320?

Or has an AD been issued, but without the requirement to "ground" them until
they've been repaired?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

After seven (?) incidents of landing gear malfunctions similar to the Jet
Blue incident, why has the FAA not issued an emergency Airworthiness
Directive on the Airbus A320?

Or has an AD been issued, but without the requirement to "ground" them
until
they've been repaired?
--

Why should they ground them ? It's just a few sparks, no big deal. These
planes have to work for a living and can't sit around waiting for some FAA
pencil pusher. Maybe they can get some mechanics in a truck to drive down
the runway under the plane and twist them back into alignment next time it
happens.

As long as it's mis-aligned by 90 degrees, it's maybe not a serious
hazard.

I don't know what the odds are, but it seems to me that having the nose
gear locked at 20 degrees off would be a significant hazard..

Because they are still airworthy, just not ground worthy. : -)

Bryan "The Monk" Chaisone

Jimmy wrote:
After seven (?) incidents of landing gear malfunctions similar to the Jet
Blue incident, why has the FAA not issued an emergency Airworthiness
Directive on the Airbus A320?

Or has an AD been issued, but without the requirement to "ground" them
until
they've been repaired?
--

Why should they ground them ? It's just a few sparks, no big deal. These
planes have to work for a living and can't sit around waiting for some FAA
pencil pusher. Maybe they can get some mechanics in a truck to drive down
the runway under the plane and twist them back into alignment next time it
happens.

The FAA has its hands full with the NWA replacement mechanics. Dead
birds
left in engines and engine flames on T.O. are becoming a frequent
occurance.

JG

"Jay Honeck" wrote:

After seven (?) incidents of landing gear malfunctions similar to the
Jet Blue incident, why has the FAA not issued an emergency
Airworthiness Directive on the Airbus A320?

Or has an AD been issued, but without the requirement to "ground" them
until they've been repaired?

They did issue one. A number of the earlier incidents were because an O
ring became distorted. The French version of the FAA had issued a
maintenance instruction requiring replacement of the ring, and the FAA
eventually did the same. They probably thought that solved the problem.

There are also apparently a couple of causes: One is the O ring, and the
other is incorrect reassembly of the gear by maintenance forces. They
probably thought both were fixed.

As far as grounding the A320, then you would also have to ground the
A318, A319, and A321, since they have essentially the same gear. You
might also have to ground the other Airbus models, since the gear is
made by the same company, and might have similar design deficiencies.

While were at it, why didn't the FAA ground the middle vintage 737s when
they had two fatal accidents from suspected rudder reversals, plus a
couple of rudder control incidents reported by other airlines while in
flight? At least the A320 nose gear problem hasn't yet resulted in any
fatalities.

Third time in US per NTSB. Airbus has a Service Bulletin on replacing
some seals.
http://www.avionnewspaper.com/media/...w-998481.shtml

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:7if1f.405652$_o.77499@attbi_s71...
After seven (?) incidents of landing gear malfunctions similar to the
Jet Blue incident, why has the FAA not issued an emergency
Airworthiness Directive on the Airbus A320?

Or has an AD been issued, but without the requirement to "ground" them
until they've been repaired?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay,
one simple reason.
no one has been killed yet. A little sick but that is the way they operate.
Michelle

Jay Honeck wrote:

After seven (?) incidents of landing gear malfunctions similar to the Jet
Blue incident, why has the FAA not issued an emergency Airworthiness
Directive on the Airbus A320?

Or has an AD been issued, but without the requirement to "ground" them until
they've been repaired?

Not yet...

The need some dead civilians first......

Sorry....

Dave

On Thu, 06 Oct 2005 19:54:43 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

After seven (?) incidents of landing gear malfunctions similar to the Jet
Blue incident, why has the FAA not issued an emergency Airworthiness
Directive on the Airbus A320?

Or has an AD been issued, but without the requirement to "ground" them until
they've been repaired?

While were at it, why didn't the FAA ground the middle vintage 737s when
they had two fatal accidents from suspected rudder reversals, plus a
couple of rudder control incidents reported by other airlines while in
flight? At least the A320 nose gear problem hasn't yet resulted in any
fatalities.

I followed the 737 rudder reversals with great interest. The reason the FAA
did not ground the fleet was quite simply that they could not duplicate the
problem for some time. It took some pretty extreme environmental
manipulation (extreme cold, moisture, etc.) before anyone could actually
make the actuator in the 737 malfunction the way the flight data recorders
were apparently reporting.

Once they *were* able to duplicate the rudder problem, the AD came
immediately, and the fix was pretty urgent.

But that still doesn't answer the question. If this known nose gear
malfunction was happening on, say, Beech Bonanzas, the whole fleet would be
grounded in a heartbeat. Yet it's happening to a commonly used airliner,
and nothing much seems to be happening.

Is there some over-riding political reason the FAA doesn't want to offend
the Europeans right now?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"