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Post by Antonio on Oct 2, 2022 8:34:02 GMT 12
Air Force grounds most of its C-130H cargo planes due to cracks in propeller barrels. From the Washington Post: www.washingtontimes.com/news/2022/oct/1/air-force-forced-ground-most-its-c-130h-cargo-plan/A C-130 Hercules assigned to the 36th Airlift Squadron approaches at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Aug. 24, 2017. (U.S. Air Force photo by Yasuo Osakabe)The Air Force is unable to fly 116 of its 128 C-130H cargo planes due to issues with how the propellers on the craft were assembled, Air Mobility Command confirmed Friday. The 116 affected planes, which consist of the C-130H model and variants, were initially grounded Tuesday. Inspections continue to figure out which of those aircraft have defective propeller barrels. “[The] propeller barrels in question had been installed in 100 C-130Hs, as well as the entire inventories of eight MC-130H Combat Talons, seven EC-130H Compass Calls, and one TC-130H,” according to Defense News. Air Mobility Command told Defense News that the issue was uncovered by a maintenance crew. While running a test on a plane that had recently undergone maintenance, they found that the propeller was persistently leaky. Technicians discovered a crack in the propeller’s barrel, and further inspection uncovered two more planes with the same issue. Air Mobility Command then mandated the field inspection of all planes with the older model of propeller, before ordering all problematic propellers replaced.
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Post by ErrolC on Oct 2, 2022 9:23:56 GMT 12
I had the impression that there were more with the new NP2000 props than the dozen implied by the story.
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Post by Dave Homewood on Oct 2, 2022 9:39:04 GMT 12
Will this issue affect the RNZAF?
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Post by ErrolC on Oct 2, 2022 10:03:05 GMT 12
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Post by johnnyfalcon on Oct 2, 2022 10:44:13 GMT 12
Is this related to the Marine C-130 crash caused by the loss of a prop and subsequent catastrophic breakup of the airframe? Although, from memory that was influenced by poor maintenance practice
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Post by scrooge on Oct 2, 2022 12:22:53 GMT 12
A comment after the first article linked by ErrolC indicates it's an issue caused by a specific practice at a particular work facility, so it should only affect props that had passed through that facility. For it to affect RNZAF (or other nations) aircraft they'd have to use that facility in the States.
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