Fake Chicom stuff? Gee, what a shock.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...d-air-FAA-fears.html

By NIC WHITE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM and AP
PUBLISHED: 13:14 EDT, 14 June 2024 | UPDATED: 13:44 EDT, 14 June 2024

Airliners manufactured by Boeing and Airbus have components made from titanium that was sold with fake documentation.

The Federal Aviation Administration revealed the problem after Boeing reported it to the agency when it was notified by parts supplier Spirit AeroSystems.

Spirit is the same company that made the door on the 737 Max plane that suffered a door blowout on January 5 and began Boeing's recent spate of problems.

Faked documentation certifying the authenticity of the titanium could mean it was not up to standard or tested to withstand the rigors of air travel.

The FAA said it was 'investigating the scope and impact of the issue' and how it could affect the safety of the unknown number of planes using the parts.

'Boeing reported a voluntary disclosure to the FAA regarding procurement of material through a distributor who may have falsified or provided incorrect records,' it said.

'Boeing issued a bulletin outlining ways suppliers should remain alert to the potential of falsified records.'

The problem was discovered after a parts supplier found small holes in the titanium from corrosion.

Spirit, which makes fuselages for Boeing and wings for Airbus, was testing the metal to determine if it was up to standard and structurally sound enough.

'This is about documents that have been falsified, forged and counterfeited,' it said.

'Once we realized the counterfeit titanium made its way into the supply chain, we immediately contained all suspected parts to determine the scope of the issues.'

Spirit was also trying to trace the source of the material to find out more about it and how it got into the supply chain unnoticed.

The documentation is knows as a certificate of conformity and details where the titanium came from, how it was made, and its quality.

The suspect parts were used in planes made in 2019 to 2023 including the Boeing 737 Max and 787 Dreamliner and the Airbus A220.

Spirit said it was used in the 787's passenger entry door, cargo doors, and a component that connects the engines to the plane's airframe, and a heat shield in the 737 Max and A220 that protects the connecting component.

Boeing and Airbus declined to say how many planes were flying with parts made from the undocumented titanium.

They insisted planes containing the parts were safe to fly, but Boeing said it was removing affected parts from planes that haven't yet been delivered to airlines.

'This industrywide issue affects some shipments of titanium received by a limited set of suppliers, and tests performed to date have indicated that the correct titanium alloy was used,' Boeing said

'To ensure compliance, we are removing any affected parts on airplanes prior to delivery. Our analysis shows the in-service fleet can continue to fly safely.'

Airbus similarly said: 'Numerous tests have been performed on parts coming from the same source of supply.

'The safety and quality of our aircraft are our most important priorities, and we are working in close collaboration with our supplier.'

Boeing said tests indicated the parts were made from the correct titanium alloy, which raised questions about why the documentation was falsified.

Spirit said it was so far unable to determine if the metal was treated enough to meet aviation standards, adding it passed some tests but failed others.

Boeing said it bought most of the titanium it used directly from other sources, and supply was not affected by the documentation issue.

Sources told the New York Times that the issue dates to 2019 when material supplier Turkish Aerospace Industries bought the batch of titanium from a Chinese supplier, and sold it to several other suppliers.

One of them was Italian firm Titanium International Group, which noticed in December 2023 that it looked different to the titanium it usually received.

The certificates that came with it also seemed inauthentic.

TIG earlier sold some of the suspect titanium to Spirit, and notified it after the discovery - stressing it had no idea the paperwork was forged at the time.

Spirit began investigating, and told Boeing and Airbus in January that it couldn't verify where the titanium came from.

Sources told the NYT the deception originated with the Chinese supplier, which presented it as being from well-known and trusted Chinese supplier Baoji Titanium Industry.

'Baoji Titanium doesn't know about the company and has no business dealing with this company,' the firm told the newspaper, confirming it didn't sell the batch of metal in question.

As a result, where the titanium came from was not clear, and the affected parts would likely be monitored and replaced during routine maintenance.

The FAA told Boeing to present its turnaround plan after an Alaska Airlines jet had a door blowout mid-flight at 16,000 feet on January 5.

Nobody was hurt during the midair incident. Accident investigators determined that bolts that helped secure the panel to the frame of the Boeing 737 Max 9 were missing before the piece blew off.

The mishap has further battered Boeing's reputation and led to multiple civil and criminal investigations.

A new inquiry was opened by the regulator earlier this month following Boeing's astonishing admission staff may have skipped some inspections of its 787 Dreamliner planes.

The FAA added that it was investigating 'whether Boeing completed the inspections and whether company employees may have falsified aircraft records'.

Boeing halted deliveries of the 787 widebody jet for more than a year until August 2022 as the FAA investigated quality problems and manufacturing flaws.

In 2021, Boeing said the planes had shims that were not the proper size and some aircraft had areas that did not meet skin-flatness specifications. A shim is a thin piece of material used to fill tiny gaps in a manufactured product.

The 737 Max, a narrow-body jet, has also had its fair share of close calls in the air.

A Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 was forced to make an emergency landing at Denver International Airport after part of the engine blew off in early April.

Boeing could also face criminal prosecution over two fatal 737 Max crashes after Boeing was accused of violating a settlement which allowed them to avoid earlier charges.

Fake shit from China, here is my surprised look:

You would hope/expect that a company that size would do their own random batch testing to confirm the quality.
Especially if it comes from China.

China fakes everything.

Fake titanium. That's perfect.

We test/inspect to spec 100% of raw material batches that we get in. Every batch lot is enter into our system in a raw material hold status. Until our raw material QA dept has completed the testing it will not be available for use.

The warehouse scans all material out prior to delivering anything to the manufacturing floor and it is scanned into the batch history before it is added into the production process. Unapproved materials will fail and not be released.

This is not special, this is just industry standards. How a company that makes aviation parts lets bad raw materials into their process is beyond me.

quote:

Originally posted by SpinZone:
We test/inspect to spec 100% of raw material batches that we get in. Every batch lot is enter into our system in a raw material hold status. Until our raw material QA dept has completed the testing it will not be available for use.

The warehouse scans all material out prior to delivering anything to the manufacturing floor and it is scanned into the batch history before it is added into the production process. Unapproved materials will fail and not be released.

This is not special, this is just industry standards. How a company that makes aviation parts lets bad raw materials into their process is beyond me.

Except when they don't spin zone. Probably like the fda.

Almost makes you glad to end up on an 'older' plane.
Flew to CA last week on a 757 [-200 I think] and back on a 737-900ER

The 37 had some inner bulkhead dividers missing & showing the foul insulation beneath, but otherwise both flights were uneventful, other than some bumpy/slide-y landings.

We need to embargo every single thing from China

Including their spies

A good friend of mine who was a student pilot discontinued her flight training when her Chinese fortune cookie told her to "Travel by road or rail."

Most of the world's titanium is in Russia, but at least it isn't fake.

Titanium is far more difficult to shape than just about every other metal or metal alloy in existence. How are these problems not found when trying to work the metal?

How could they let that happen.
Doesn't the FAA randomly test this stuff?

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Most of the world's titanium is in Russia, but at least it isn't fake.

Titanium is far more difficult to shape than just about every other metal or metal alloy in existence. How are these problems not found when trying to work the metal?

I have a piece of titanium, and it is relatively soft. Cutting is probably not a problem, but bending might be.

The Chinese have a rule they live by. If you can cheat, then cheat.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
The Chinese have a rule they live by. If you can cheat, then cheat.

Yep, win by any means necessary. Even if there's no merit behind it.

I don’t believe anything from a news site so I did a search on this story.
There wasn’t a good article by the reputable source that I could find. Most were written by someone that clearly doesn’t know much about the subjects involved. In other words, staff writers.
I’d wait a bit to see if there’s anything else that comes to light.
Looks like so far there may be a traceability issue which isn’t surprising. The articles mentioned “counterfeit” titanium, whatever that means.

How does one "fake" titanium, anyway? If it is alloyed with another metal of the wrong type or in the wrong proportions, or heat-treated improperly, or something of that nature that makes it brittle, that would be plausible.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
How does one "fake" titanium, anyway? If it is alloyed with another metal of the wrong type or in the wrong proportions, or heat-treated improperly, or something of that nature that makes it brittle, that would be plausible.

The article mentions fake documentation, not fake titanium.

The article mentions pinholes in the material. That's a serious defect for a material.

Reminds me of the somewhat thick stainless steel mixing bowls I bought that were made in India. About a year so two later, several pin holes. Bowls that have holes are worthless. Since I couldn't find Made in USA stainless at my local stores, I bought glass instead.

Another thought occurred to me...this is from a supplier. Some of that titanium might have gone to other applications, such as medical implants. This could get very ugly it that has happened.