Disclaimer
These pictures and story were forward to me by some flying friends.
I cannot say if the story is true or not, and have no idea as to what
airline.
-Will
Into The Wild Blue Yonder
The attached pictures prove the superior dispatchability of the Boeing
747. An Asian airline operator came into FRA (Frankfurt, Germany) for an
unscheduled refuelling stop. The reason became soon apparent to the ground
crew: The fan on the number 3 engine didn't look so good. This had apparently
been no problem for the tough guys back in Asia: they took some sturdy
straps and wrapped them around both the fan blades and the structures (note
the straps are seatbelts, how resourceful!). behind, thus stopping any
unwanted windmilling (engine spinning by itself due to airflow passing
thru during flight)and associated uncomfortable vibration caused by the
suboptimal fan. Off they went into the wild blue yonder with another revenue-making
flight on only three engines! When they got a bit low on fuel, they just
set it down at the closest airport for a quick refill. That's when the
problem started: Those Germans are kinda picky about this stuff, and they
grounded the aircraft. The airline operator had to send a chunk of money
to get the first engine replaced (took about 10 days), and the repair contractor
had decided to do some impromptu inspection work on the other engines,
none of which looked all that great either. The result: a total of 3 engines
were finally changed on this plane before it was allowed to fly again.