18 Jun 07

Looks like Eagle have found a whole lot more aircraft with cracks in the landing gear actuators; so they'll be grounded until replacements can be sourced from the States. One was found with a pool of hydraulic fluid under it last night. They spent all last night NDT testing the fleet and found more had cracks.

Wednesday September 26, 02:46 PM
Air NZ grounds flights

Air New Zealand grounded about 60 flights to check 17 planes after a safety "issue" was found during routine inspection of an Eagle Air plane last night.

The Air NZ link carrier said engineers had identified "an issue" with an undercarriage component on a Beech 1900D aircraft.

About 1000 customers were affected by the cancellations.

Eagle Air said nine of the aircraft were back in service, while five required replacement parts and would be flying again within the next 48 hours.

The airline expected the rest of the fleet to be inspected by the end of the day.

In June, an Eagle Air Beechcraft 1900D made a belly landing at Blenheim airport when its landing gear failed to come down.

That landing was being investigated by both the transport Accident Investigation Commission and Eagle Air.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the inspection was routine, and had nothing to do with the ongoing investigation into the June incident. The TAIC report into the Blenheim landing was still being prepared, she said.

Civil Aviation Authority has been notified of the fault.

A spokesman said it was routine for the authority to be advised when faults were uncovered, and the airline had acted prudently by grounding the fleet.

26 SEP 2007 Air New Zealand grounded Beech 1900 for safety inspections
Air New Zealand has temporarily grounded its fleet of 17 Beech 1900D aircraft for safety inspections, canceling some 60 flights and affecting about 1,000 passengers.
The action comes after a maintenance inspection discovered an issue with an undercarriage component on one of the Eagle Air aircraft. (AP)

18 Jun 07	Air New Zealand has temporarily grounded its fleet of 17 Beech 1900D aircraft for safety inspections, canceling some 60 flights and affecting about 1,000 passengers. The action comes after a maintenance inspection discovered an issue with an undercarriage component on one of the Eagle Air aircraft. Belly-flop plane to fly again PLANE RESURRECTED: The Eagle Air plane which belly-landed at Blenheim Airport in June has been repaired and will re-enter service this weekend. The Eagle Airways plane which belly-flopped on to the runway at Blenheim Airport after its landing gear failed will be back in the air by Sunday. The Beech 1900D, which flies for Air New Zealand, made an emergency landing on June 18 with 17 people on board. Everyone escaped unscathed. The plane has been under repair in a Safe Air hangar at Blenheim Airport ever since. Eagle Airways airline operations manager Jon Calder said most of the $600,000 repair work was for damage sustained when the plane skidded over the runway. The plane's propellers were ripped from the aircraft when it landed. The emergency landing came after one of the undercarriage struts lost all hydraulic fluid and cracked. The Timaru to Auckland flight was near Wellington when the emergency developed and was diverted to Blenheim. Just a month after the belly-flop, a second Beech 1900D developed problems with its landing gear, sparking an emergency response at Blenheim Airport. However, the landing gear dropped and the plane landed safely. The Civil Aviation Authority is investigating the incident. Since the first incident the entire Eagle Air fleet of 17 aircraft was checked within the first 48 hours. Further in-depth checks, including ultra-sound inspections to find any cracks, are just finishing now. "We've made those checks and found no other problems," Mr Calder said. "I'm not going to go out there and say it will never happen again but we've done everything to ascertain (the aircraft are safe). Safety is paramount to us." Mr Calder could not say what route the repaired aircraft would be flying as it would simply slot in where it was needed. It would begin carrying passengers again from Sunday.





	EAGLE B1900's GROUNDED!! Looks like Eagle have found a whole lot more aircraft with cracks in the landing gear actuators; so they'll be grounded until replacements can be sourced from the States. One was found with a pool of hydraulic fluid under it last night. They spent all last night NDT testing the fleet and found more had cracks. http://nz.news.yahoo.com//070926/3/1tfp.html Wednesday September 26, 02:46 PM Air NZ grounds flights Air New Zealand grounded about 60 flights to check 17 planes after a safety "issue" was found during routine inspection of an Eagle Air plane last night. The Air NZ link carrier said engineers had identified "an issue" with an undercarriage component on a Beech 1900D aircraft. About 1000 customers were affected by the cancellations. Eagle Air said nine of the aircraft were back in service, while five required replacement parts and would be flying again within the next 48 hours. The airline expected the rest of the fleet to be inspected by the end of the day. In June, an Eagle Air Beechcraft 1900D made a belly landing at Blenheim airport when its landing gear failed to come down. That landing was being investigated by both the transport Accident Investigation Commission and Eagle Air. An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said the inspection was routine, and had nothing to do with the ongoing investigation into the June incident. The TAIC report into the Blenheim landing was still being prepared, she said. Civil Aviation Authority has been notified of the fault. A spokesman said it was routine for the authority to be advised when faults were uncovered, and the airline had acted prudently by grounding the fleet. 26 SEP 2007 Air New Zealand grounded Beech 1900 for safety inspections Air New Zealand has temporarily grounded its fleet of 17 Beech 1900D aircraft for safety inspections, canceling some 60 flights and affecting about 1,000 passengers. The action comes after a maintenance inspection discovered an issue with an undercarriage component on one of the Eagle Air aircraft. (AP)