NW DC-10 Loses Thrust Reverser During Flight!

N808SY · 04-11-2005, 04:37 PM

the title says it all!

http://www.kare11.com/news/news_arti...?storyid=78327

wow!

what do you guys think of THIS??? a freak accident, or an omen to the aging of the DC-10s?

LOT 737-300 · 04-11-2005, 06:33 PM

Neither, I think its Media exageration. Though I think it is not supposed to do that, most aircraft, not just aging aircraft do that every now and then. Looking from what I've read from the article, the two worst things that could have happened would have been 1) the plane probebly would have had trouble using reverse thrust (though that looks more like a cover to it than the whole thing and 2) the part that fell off the plane would have landed on somebody's house, or worse... On somebody. Do you remember the Airtran A320 incedent where the engine cowling flew off the plane in flight? Or that NW 721 back in 1991 that had to land because a giant ball of **** flew into the #1 engine and knocked it out? Those were bad incedents, but everyone was ok, and thats all that matters.

aviatorboy · 04-11-2005, 08:13 PM

Hmmm.....Strange one of thoes freak things....How old are NW DC-10s? like 20 years or something right?

LOT 737-300 · 04-11-2005, 08:21 PM

First off, I'd like to say, since people are blaming the aircraft's age on this, I'm banging my head on my desk. Second off, to answer aviatorboy's question on how old NW's DC-10's are, the youngust could find on the jetphotos.net database was built in 1988, so they arn't that old.

MarioAir · 04-11-2005, 08:37 PM

For the question of how old the DC-10 is, I think its been around more time than from 1988. August 29, 1970 i what I read was when the 1st commercial flight was. This is where I got the information from: http://www.aerosite.net/dc10.htm

N521UP · 04-11-2005, 10:30 PM

And to think Inver Grove is just 5 miles down Highway 55 from my house!!!!!

MD11Freighter · 04-12-2005, 12:58 AM

Wow that is crazy. Good thing no one was hurt

luloudoodle · 04-12-2005, 02:29 PM

Media exageration is the problem here, parts fall off the aircraft all the time, nothing new, FL A320 lost an engine cowling last year, along with an IB A320 aircraft a few months ago. Has nothing to do with the DC-10, sure it has had accidents of parts falling off (like cargo door popping off UAL flight causing hole in aircraf that sucked like ?9 people out?) But NW has some of the best maintenance staff in the industry but that could change seeing as they are outsourcing a large portion of DC-9 A, B, C, and D checks out to other companies, compromising quality.....

airways1 · 04-12-2005, 05:56 PM

Seems to me that the current practice in outsourcing critical engineering and maintenance work to cut costs on keeping older aircraft flying is a very bad idea. I know parts can drop off airplanes every now and then, but an entire thrust reverser!!
No way is this acceptable. Airlines in the UK are also outsourcing work in the same way. Bad idea.

SBNair · 04-12-2005, 06:31 PM

Why is the outsourcing of work bad? The work is often outsourced to either other airlines (who certainly should know what they're doing) or to firms that do nothing but service airplanes. It's not like they're hiring somebody to fix the airplane in a garage or driveway.

Although the mechanics unions for NWA will disagree, I'd be surprised if there was any correlation between mechanical problems and the outsourcing of labor.

LOT 737-300 · 04-12-2005, 06:37 PM

I do believe thaqt SBNair is right. Airlines do outsource planes to companies that know what they are doing. I have a neighbor who works at DL over at TPA. She told me that DL is not in good shape (because they sold off their fuel package) and they are shutting down the hangars in TPA and in ATL, of course that was what I was told.

SBNair · 04-12-2005, 06:41 PM

Here's a good example of how airlines outsource maintenance. NWA has outsourced most of the maintenance work on its Pratt & Whitney engines. To whom? Pratt & Whitney. It seems that you can't find a better expert to service an engine than the company that made it. They're going to have far more experience getting those engines roaring again than any airline would. Besides, they want the airline to come back and select them for engines next time they buy aircraft.