Broken Bolts Found in Japan Air Lines’ 747s
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TOKYO — An inspection of 69 Boeing 747 jets operated by Japanese companies found broken bolts, loose bolt fixtures and damaged rivets in the tail sections of 26 of the aircraft, a Transport Ministry official said Friday.
None of the faults were serious enough to be a threat to safety.
The inspections were ordered after a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747-SR crashed Aug. 12, killing all but four of the 524 people aboard in the worst single-plane disaster in aviation history. The plane’s vertical stabilizer, or tail fin, came apart in flight, and the crew was unable to control the plane. The exact cause has not been determined, but suspicion has focused on the rear pressure bulkhead.
The official said tail-section defects were found in 26 jets operated by Japan Air Lines, All Nippon Airways, Japan Asian Airways and Nippon Cargo Airlines.
He said nine planes had a total of 15 broken bolts in the dish-shaped pressure bulkhead, 31 loose bolts were found in the tail sections of six planes and other jets had loose bolts at the attachment point of the rudder.
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