In article , Steve Firth
wrote:
They ran an audit, and condemned every one in the store.

Hmm, I think I want to talk to BALPA. Sharpish.

Finding the evidence is the bugger.

I'm sure.

One rumour was that they had taken in a stores during a
takeover of another company and that company hadn't been too careful in
where it bought parts.

Hmmm. Not many companies out there running large fleets of Super
Pumas with a small scattering of S61s, Chinooks and Dauphins. Can't say
as I've kept enough notice of the chopper business to say who's been
eating who. Actually, it's more complex than that, because there are
several variants of the Super Puma in service (AIUI) with different
shapes of rotor tip, and I'd bet that they're not interchangeable.
It doesn't
seem worth a counterfeiter's time setting up production of complex
parts, and it's more likely that it was the documentation that was
forged in order to put back dodgy (but OEM) parts into circulation.

They set up production of an imitation of complex parts, with no
QC and no research costs, in whatever materials they have to hand, then
sell them into a supply chain where the only people able to see a
difference between the original and counterfeit part are the fitters who
have to try to fit them. Plenty of room there to make a profit.

Once
suspicion has been cast on the certification, it's possibly wise to
scrap everything from the same source.

I've heard *LOTS* about dodgy aircraft maintenance in other parts
of the world. I've heard lots about the poisonous wildlife and lightning,
too, so I get my jabs, take my malaria prophylaxis (memo to self : update
the emergency stock in the fridge), and keep a weather eye on the
weather. Some companies in the business refuse to allow their "staff" to
fly with Russian airlines, but that doesn't really help when the only
alternative to flying is a full day on the roads (which aren't that safe
themselves - little different to UK roads).
Come to think of it, I've heard of plenty of counterfeit parts in
the UK car and coach and truck maintenance supply lines too, and that's
not counting the genuine "aftermarket" parts.

--
Aidan
Aberdeen, Scotland
Written at Tue, 04 Sep 2007 07:48 +0100, but posted later.