Ryanair B738 near Brussels on Mar 1st 2010, severe vibrations as result of elevator tab control failure

Last Update: April 11, 2012 / 13:22:32 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Mar 1, 2010

Airline
Ryanair

Aircraft Registration
B-6073

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

The Irish Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) released their final report concluding the cause of the serious incident was: Bearing swage wear because of workmanship escapement and improper tool usage during component manufacture. Analysis of the flight data recorder showed that the vibrations were greatest at 300 KIAS. The aircraft manufacturer thus stipulated inspections of the left hand and right hand stabilizers, elevators and tab control mechanisms. Those inspections showed two frame assemblies were broken from the left hand elevator tab mechanism assembly, accelerated wear was found to the elevator tab mechanism believed to be the result of the oscillation of the elevator tab. As result of initial findings an Emergency Air Worthiness Directive was released by the FAA which contained the words: "This condition, if not corrected, could result in a loss of aircraft control and structural integrity." Following repairs the aircraft was ferried back to London Stansted,EN (UK) for further tests. Following inspection results of other aircraft as well as another occurrence of elevator tab vibrations reported by another operator the FAA released another Airworthiness Directive introducing new inspection requirements. The manufacturer were in the process of redesigning the tab mechanism. The manufacturer determined that wear of the bearing swage ring at the aft attach lugs of the elevator tab control mechanism resulted in accelerated degradation of the joint, after which the bearing could migrate out of the lug or cause complete lug separation resulting in severe vibration of the elevator tab. The bearing swage had worn because of "workmanship escapement and improper tool usage" that would have occurred during component manufacture.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Mar 1, 2010

Airline
Ryanair

Aircraft Registration
B-6073

Aircraft Type
Boeing 737-800

ICAO Type Designator
B738

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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