China Airlines completes Boeing 737-800 Fleet Inspections

China Airlines has completed the required inspections on its own, and Mandarin Airlines', 13 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, according to a Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) emergency airworthiness directive (EAD). In order to ensure that all the planes are safe for flight operations, Taiwan's CAA sent inspectors to audit the inspection work.

The FAA's EAD was first issued on August 25. The FAA ordered airlines to inspect wing slats on certain newer Boeing 737 models within 24 days, and every 3,000 flying cycles thereafter. Taiwan's CAA, at the same time, issued the directive accordingly.

FAA issued a second EAD on August 28. Instead of 24 days, the FAA urged airlines to complete the inspections within 10 days after receipt of the new EAD. Meanwhile, the FAA added sophisticated bore scope inspection techniques as a more detailed method of inspection.

In accordance with the new EAD issued by both CAA and FAA, CAL grounded every 737 aircraft for 18 hours in order to perform detailed inspections. The maintenance team used a bore scope to enter the slat track, the downstop assembly and the slat track housing, in order to get detailed, up-close pictures on a computer screen to verify that the parts are properly installed. As scheduled, CAL completed the inspection in a timely fashion, to ensure that all the planes are safe for flight operations.

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