I think we have all played the game “Hide and Seek.”Corrosion and its detrimental impacts can be similar. The accident investigator must determine if corrosion went undetected and caused the material to become unable to sustain the flight load. Let’s examine the incident that occurred with Atlantic Southeast Flight 529, Embraer EMB 120RT, N256AS/FAALinks to an external site.Links to an external site. to see their results based on evidence.
Link: https://www.faa.gov/lessons_learned/transport_airplane/accidents/N256AS
Assume you are the Director of Quality at No-Name Airlines. You are tasked to manage the Continuing Analysis and Surveillance System (CASS) program for this air carrier. No-Name Airlines operates the same make and model aircraft (Embraer EMB-120RT) as the one in this fatal accident. Your goal is to prevent any such occurrence at No-Name Airlines. You have some searing questions regarding this accident since you are looking at this event as an outsider (i.e., no first-hand experience at Atlantic Southeast Airlines or the accident investigation). Some questions that come to mind might include the following:
Was there a manufacturing flaw?
Did the maintenance team perform a flaw or fail to follow procedures or work processes?
Did the inspection department fail to detect an anomaly during the component inspection/overhaul?
Was the failure due to fatigue that led to corrosion that exacerbated the article in question?
Did corrosion lead to fatigue cracking of the related component?
As a proclaimed safety advocate, you desperately want to ensure that measures are put in place at No-Name Airlines, which should mitigate such an occurrence on its fleet of EMB-120RT aircraft. After a thorough review of the Atlantic Southeast accident of Flight 529, you develop a strategy to mitigate the risk(s) involved in your organization. You consider possibly reinforcing the following areas:
Greater emphasis on oversight of contracted maintenance providers/vendors if work is performed off-site
Possibly evaluate current inspection techniques, tooling, special equipment, and inspector training
Possibly evaluate past component reliability and failure trends (malfunctions/defects) while noting any anomalies, particularly regarding the failed component involved in the Atlantic Southeast accident
Re-evaluate current inspection programs for No-Name’s EMB-120RT fleet, particularly regarding the failed component involved in the Atlantic Southeast accident
Examine current operational parameters, particularly regarding the failed component involved in the Atlantic Southeast accident and
Any other areas you feel should be included in your assessment of No-Name’s risk mitigation strategy
Instructions
You need to brief the President and CEO of No-Name Airlines to let them know how you’re protecting their organization from repeating the same or similar events that befell Atlantic Southeast Flight 529. You will prepare a narrated presentation for the President and CEO of No-Name Airlines that communicates your findings, including your appraisal of maintenance procedures and practices related to the failures. Your presentation should also include your examination of the structural and mechanical factors that produced the accident and include your recommendation for how the airline can ensure airworthiness and crashworthiness. Be sure to consider not only maintenance issues but any other important structural and mechanical design and repair factors as well.
Your presentation should be between 5–8 minutes in length. The presentation slides should include the following: title, agenda, 4–6 slides discussing your topic, conclusions slide, and your references.
