I assume this is true but this is the internet… (via a chain email a mate sent me)
For anybody who is not familiar with a jet engine, a jet fan blade
should be perfectly smooth. You might want to think twice the next time
you fly on a Chinese Airline.A pilot for a Chinese carrier requested permission and landed at FRA
(Frankfurt, Germany) for an unscheduled refueling stop. The reason
became soon apparent to the ground crew: The Number 3 engine had been
shutdown previously because of excessive vibration, and because it
didn’t look too good. It had apparently been no problem for the tough
guys back in China as they took some sturdy straps and wrapped them
around two of the fan blades and the structures behind, thus stopping
any unwanted windmilling (engine spinning by itself due to airflow
passing thru the blades during flight) and associated uncomfortable
vibration caused by the suboptimal fan.Note that the straps are seatbelts….how resourceful! After making the
“repairs”, off they went into the wild blue yonder with another
revenue-making flight on only three engines! With the increased fuel
consumption, they got a bit low on fuel, and just set it down at the
closest airport (FRA) for a quick refill.
That’s when the problems started:
The Germans, who are kind of picky about this stuff, inspected the
malfunctioning engine and immediately grounded the aircraft. (Besides
the seatbelts, notice the appalling condition of the fan blades.) The
airline operator had to send a chunk of money to get the first engine
replaced ( it took about 10 days).The repair contractor decided to do some impromptu inspection work on
the other engines, none of which looked all that great either. The
result: a total of 3 engines were eventually changed on this plane
before it was permitted to fly again.And soon they will export their cars to America, be sure to buy one of
those quality machines so you can increase the trade deficit.
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