Global Fastener News

Working Group Formed to Solve Non-Safety Fastener Discrepancies With FAA
Non-Safety Fastener Discrepancies With FAA

John Wolz

An industrywide working group was formed to solve non-safety-related dimensional discrepancies found by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Representatives from the Industrial Fasteners Institute, Aerospace Industries Association and General Aviation Manufacturers Association have held two-day work sessions in June with the FAA, and a third is planned this August in Seattle.\
“There are no safety issues,” Skip Jones, director of engineering & certification for the AIA, emphasized several times in an interview with FIN.
Jones said the initial Department of Transportation study was the result of the exemption of aerospace fasteners from the Fastener Quality Act. The DOT Office of Inspector General initiated an audit in 1998 of the FAA�s oversight of fastener production used in commercial aviation.
The DOT-OIG audit revealed some non-safety-related dimensional discrepancies and subsequently the FAA audit began last fall to investigate the cause of variation in measurement, determine airworthiness and assess the fastener industry�s compliance with the FAA.
The FAA collected 2,264 samples from nine production approval holders for inspection and found a total of 5.7% of bolts and 1.1% of nuts were dimensionally nonconforming. Independent laboratories found 11.3% of the test bolts were dimensionally nonconforming.
After a six-month investigation of fasteners the FAA concluded there are no flight safety concerns involving aircraft fasteners.
Jones said the studies pointed to a problem with an inactive spec, MIL-S-8879. The problem is that the “deactivated spec can�t be updated,” Jones explained.
IFI managing director Rob Harris said he is pleased the subject has thus far been a “non-issue” because the working groups are taking a proactive role.
“There is no congressional inquiry. There have been no press calls. It is nice to be ahead of the situation,” Harris said. �2001 FastenerNews.com