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

Jay Honeck wrote:

Is there some over-riding political reason the FAA doesn't want to offend
the Europeans right now?

I doubt it. As you said, once they were able to duplicate the rudder problem
with the 737, "the fix was pretty urgent."

The FAA doesn't issue an AD unless someone has proposed a fix. Apparently nobody
has come up with a fix for the Airbus problem, so there's no AD yet. I expect
that the FAA feels that there is insufficient cause to ground the entire Airbus
fleet over this. Michelle is probably correct that they will not take that step
unless somebody is killed in one of these incidents.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

The FAA doesn't issue an AD unless someone has proposed a fix. Apparently
nobody has come up with a fix for the Airbus problem, so there's no AD
yet. I expect that the FAA feels that there is insufficient cause to
ground the entire Airbus fleet over this. Michelle is probably correct
that they will not take that step unless somebody is killed in one of
these incidents.

That's dumb.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:
The FAA doesn't issue an AD unless someone has proposed a fix. Apparently
nobody has come up with a fix for the Airbus problem, so there's no AD
yet. I expect that the FAA feels that there is insufficient cause to
ground the entire Airbus fleet over this. Michelle is probably correct
that they will not take that step unless somebody is killed in one of
these incidents.

That's dumb.

They call it an "airworthiness directive" for a reason. If they have no fix,
they can't "direct" you to do anything to fix the problem. So far the agencies
around the world such as the FAA seems to feel that this problem is unlikely to
cause anything more than some press excitement and purchase of replacement parts
and provide a little exercise for the emergency people.

George Patterson
Drink is the curse of the land. It makes you quarrel with your neighbor.
It makes you shoot at your landlord. And it makes you miss him.

Jay,

In every instance that I know of where the nosewheel malfunctioned on
the Airbus, the problem was found to be HOW maintenance was performed on
the aircraft. The Airbus does NOT have a problem, some of the
technicians doing the maintenance on the Airbus do. This is why no AD
has been issued. Lots of contract maintenance is being performed these
days (overseas and domestically)...I'll let you draw your own conclusion
whether it's a good "thing" or not. We live in a "Walmart" world and
unfortunately it has spilled over to the airlines.

BJ
Airbus Captain

Jay Honeck wrote:

The FAA doesn't issue an AD unless someone has proposed a fix. Apparently
nobody has come up with a fix for the Airbus problem, so there's no AD
yet. I expect that the FAA feels that there is insufficient cause to
ground the entire Airbus fleet over this. Michelle is probably correct
that they will not take that step unless somebody is killed in one of
these incidents.


That's dumb.

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?

I'd bet that Cessna 172's have more landing gear problems than the
A320. Should we ground them too?

There are 2,500 A320s in operation
(http://www.airbus.com/en/aircraftfamilies/a320/ ) putting more
passengers at risk each day than the 172s carry in a day/week/month.

"Robert M. Gary" wrote in message
oups.com...
I'd bet that Cessna 172's have more landing gear problems than the
A320. Should we ground them too?

At risk of what? Getting sick on airline food?

This nosegear thing has happened a number of times in the past few years. No
one, as far as I know, has had so much as a minor injury as a result.

"sfb" wrote in message news:_0Z1f.4045$nz.2795@trnddc03...
There are 2,500 A320s in operation
(http://www.airbus.com/en/aircraftfamilies/a320/ ) putting more
passengers at risk each day than the 172s carry in a day/week/month.