New Delhi, October 17 The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday issued a string of directives, primarily maintenance and testing norms of engines, that the cash-strapped SpiceJet needs to adhere to in order to keep its Bombarider Q400 fleet in-operation.
SpiceJet currently has 14 operational Q400s; which include 28-odd 150A Pratt & Whitney engines.
Instructions include sending engine oil samples to Pratt & Whitney (the engine maker) once in every 15 days to ascertain presence of metal and carbon seal particles. Earlier this exercise was carried out once in 30 days.
The new rules were imposed post the civil aviation regulator carrying out an investigation into an emergency landing that SpiceJet Bombardier Q400 flight had to make in Hyderabad earlier this month. The emergency landing happened after smoke was detected in the cabin because of oil leakage in AC.
SpiceJet was asked to carry out inspection of bleed-off valve screen and housing for evidence of oil wetness, “during every weekly check”.
It has also been instructed to carry out immediate inspection of Magnetic Chip Detectors (MCD) for presence of any metal particles on reporting of fault 938 in the Central Display system which otherwise is a class 2 fault and calls for inspection within the next 65 flight hours. “In case of detection of any metal particles, boroscopic inspection of the engine shall be carried out prior to release of aircraft.” the directive added.
The airline has to carry out a one-time boroscopic inspection of all operational engines within one week and completion of boroscopic inspection on three engines which have been received from Standard Aero of Singapore, by Monday-end.
The DGCA has also ordered SpiceJet that no engine shall be sent to Standard Aero- Singapore till the investigation is completed.