South African Airways (SAA) board of directors has refuted claims that its maintenance division South African Airways Technical (SAAT) does not use fake parts when servicing aircraft.
The statement has come following a story in the Sunday Times which contained the headline: “Jet scare highlights criminals in the SAA workshop.”
SAA has said it strongly refutes claims in the media that the airline admitted to possibly having been supplied with “suspect parts” or components.
The event stems from a Mango Airlines flight operated on 2 September 2019 which experienced technical difficulties that resulted in an air turn-back.
"The event itself had a limited impact on passengers, who on the day, would have experienced a minor jolt, akin to driving through a pothole, as the flight crew disengaged autopilot to assume manual flight controls in accordance with the operating procedures of the aircraft manufacturer," a statement from SAA said. "The crew noted that no significant loss of height was experienced, with Mango’s Director of Flight Operations noting a loss in elevation of less than two feet. Mango’s flight crew handled the incident in accordance with the airline’s standard operating procedures, and the event was duly reported to the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA).
"The cause of the air turn-back related to a component failure. The part, a stabiliser trim motor, failed during the climb of the flight to its planned cruise altitude. After levelling off in the cruise the crew’s attention was drawn to a 'Stab out of trim' condition. This simply notifies the crew that the autopilot is maintaining the flight condition, but that the aircraft is not trimmed correctly. The crew read the checklist which very simply instructs them to hold the control column and disconnect the autopilot, which they complied with."
SAA says it complies with South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) requirements on components.
"Whilst any acts of criminality cannot be ruled out, it is untrue that there is a known international crime syndicate that has infiltrated SAA or SAAT that is responsible for tender manipulation and/or corruption at SAA or SAAT," SAA said in a statement. "There is no link, direct or indirect between the aircraft incident involving the Mango flight reported on and matters that are currently under investigation at SAAT."
SAA has said that the aircraft component which failed on the Mango flight of 2 September, was "legitimately procured from the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) of Boeing 737-800 aircraft."
It claims that SAAT received the part from the manufacturer on 5 August 2019. It was fitted on Mango’s aircraft on 7 August 2019 and failed after 96 flights and 125 hours of operation.
SAA is awaiting feedback from the OEM - who says that its failed component has been "returned to establish the cause of the component failure. Mango and SAAT are providing the required assistance to the SACAA in progressing their investigation."