Page 45 - Pylon News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

From the pylon but leaving the pylon attached to the wing. at the time, engineers from several airlines were using a shortcut. they found if the pylon and engine were removed in one piece, they could change the engine more quickly. >> they just dropped the entire unit from the wing. changed the component and put it all back together. in theory it sounded great, on paper it looked good. >> it's when maintenance workers are reattaching the engine and pylon eight weeks before the crash the soon to be fatal mistake is made. if the airline had followed manufacturer requirements, workers would have ...

Went right into the ground. everything in its path was blown into a sheet of flame. >> initially, ntsb investigators are baffled what could have caused a failure of this magnitude. >> this is all that's left of american airlines flight 191, as far as it got on its way to los angeles. >> they sift through the wreckage and look to the plane's two flight recorders for clues. within days of the crash, it began to zero in on a part called the pylon. it has a 13-inch crack they believe was caused by fatigue prior to the crash, which maintenance inspections had missed. what exactly is a pylon? aviati...

>> it looks like an arm that the engine is hanging off of. that's a very complex piece of structure. it has to be designed to take a heck of a load from the engines. >> investigators also scrutinize the plane's service history. that's where the puzzle pieces start to come together. it turns out not to be a design flaw. it's a troubling maintenance practice. >> the whole issue of the accident centered on the maintenance practice of changing an engine with this pylon attached as opposed to the more correct and approved procedure, which is to take the pylon away from the engine while attached to ...

Service, caused one of the bolts to fail. >> this morning, investigators were out on runway 32 right at o'hare airport looking for a bolt about four inches long. >> the crack is hidden from view, so it goes undetected. with every takeoff and landing cycle, putting stress on the broken flange, the crack is growing, and no one knows it. eight weeks after the engine change when flight 191 takes off on that warm spring afternoon, suddenly, without warning, disaster. >> takeoff is when this engine's producing the most thrust when there's the most force on the pylon is during takeoff. if it were goi...

They could change the component, put it all back together. in theory it sounded great, on paper it looked good. >> it's when maintenance workers are reattaching the engine and the soon to be fatal mistake is made. if the airline had followed manufacturer requirements, workers would have simply reattached the engine to the pylon using a specialized machine, recommended by the manufacturer. but because they've removed the massive engine/pylon assembly together, now it has to be replaced as one unit. using a forklift, workers inadvertently crack the top section of the pylon called the flange as t...