All Cape Cod /Nantucket Airlines grounded

I just heard this on my local news, and i find it very hard to beleive that all Cessnas, the entire fleet, has "engine trouble".

Cape Air, whom i worked for for awhile, has many airplanes- 6-8 seaters, and they are maintained right in the hangar where i worked in Reservations and Information.

It has nothing to do with the weather, and this is really unprecedented.

They're giving refunds or transfer to ferries for those going to the Islands.

Anything up there in the sky not allowing flights?

Anyone?

[edit on 13-6-2007 by dgtempe]

Found a news article, seems to be a corperate decision. They expect to be up and running by Thursday.

www.thebostonchannel.com...

At Logan Internation Airport Tuesday, one of the Cessna's left-engines gave out as it was arriving from Nantucket. It landed safely, but over Memorial Day weekend two other planes had similar problems, which has led the company to voluntarily ground the fleet.

Sorry,no "conspiracy" the FAA issues an AD,and all affected aircraft are grounded utill fixed or ok'd.

It's common for this to happen if more than one plane has a problem that's similar. If three planes had this happen, then that's a good reason to ground them and check the fleet out to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I think its odd that all planes were grounded.

Its never happened before.

Anyway, it may have been something major they found faulty, because this is the equivalent to the "Wings" show, where the mechanics are right there repairing all planes on a daily basis.

I just thought it was strange.

If they're all the same type of plane and it's suspected there may be a design problem with one of its parts, then I don't find it unusual that the entire fleet would all be grounded either.

I tend to suspect it is because that regional fleet of aircraft have all been maintained by the same regional Maintenance provider, who probably used improper or inadequate maintenance techniques.

If an airline has all it's fleet maintained by one outfit which screws up then FAA have to assume there are systemic failures across the whole fleet's maintenance.

Well, maybe its about time someone came down on them...That beautiful 15 minute trip to the islands could end in tragedy.
I posted this before i went to work and i just thought it was odd...for all flights to be cancelled.

Maybe the runways need to be redone as well...or we will have a second airplane land at the Ocean State Job lot again... That was quite a sight.

So it turns out there is no conspiracy here after all. Just caution.

Its me, overreacting.

Originally posted by sy.gunson
I tend to suspect it is because that regional fleet of aircraft have all been maintained by the same regional Maintenance provider, who probably used improper or inadequate maintenance techniques.

If an airline has all it's fleet maintained by one outfit which screws up then FAA have to assume there are systemic failures across the whole fleet's maintenance.

It doesn't necessarily have to be the maintainers fault. They could have gotten a shipment of bad parts.

I remember a few years ago, when the USAF switched manufacturers of fuel pumps for the KC-135s. They lost four of them when the pumps exploded, because when the tank would run dry the pump would use the fuel that it was supposed to recycle for lubrication. At that point metal would hit metal causing sparks, and the tank would explode. Under normal testing, there was no sign of any problem with the pumps, and they only found out because the last one to explode killed the ground crew. They found one of the maintenance guys in the cockpit with his hand on the fuel panel, and the switch in the on position.

What type of Cessnas are we talking of ?

There was some talk of an aircraft with one engine shut down suggesting a twin like a 402/404/406 Rheims/412, or 414. These types do have some notorious fuel system issues. If you operate fuel pumps with cross feed open you can pressurise the fuel vent.

Was this specific to the Cap Cod Cessna fleet or a nationwide issue ?

Cessna 402s. They found faulty parts. There was abnormal wear on some parts in the engine of several planes. So they grounded all 49 aircraft to replace the parts.

Aha .. thanks for the clarity, but sometimes the issue is the maintenance provider. The test is whether the grounding is nationwide or localised. If it is very localised, then you can bet your bottom dollar the MRO was fitting uncertified spares.

There is a big black market in salvaging time expired parts from wrecked or retired aircraft and re-marketing them as airworthy spare parts. I am glad these dudes were caught. This rubbish kills people.

Well, maybe its about time someone came down on them...That beautiful 15 minute trip to the islands could end in tragedy.

Too true. We had a cessna 402 in southern NZ ditch whilst crossing a strait to an Island on a similar short hop. The aircraft had been fueld up before performing a series of hops, but it ditched from fuel exhaustion and most of the passengers drowned. They blamed the pilot and said he didn't refuel it, but I suspect he was unfamiliar with this common fuel dumping fault on 402s.