A Lion Air Boeing MD-90 has been identified as the aircraft that had a part fall off onto the taxiway prior to take-off but it was a section of the engine’s outer casing rather than a wing section as earlier reported by authorities.
Lion Air’s top spokesman in Jakarta says it was a Lion Air MD-90, registration PK-LIL, and the aircraft lost the part on a taxiway at Jakarta airport prior to take-off for Balikpapan in Indonesia. The part was found on 4 December.
It was the engine nacelle’s exhaust nozzle that came off, says the spokesman, who stresses that losing this part in no way compromised the performance of the engine.
The pilot operated the aircraft from Jakarta to Balikpapan and “said there was nothing wrong with the performance of the engine” and the aircraft’s flight data recorder also confirms this, says the spokesman.
Authorities have since grounded the aircraft in Balikpapan and are investigating, says the spokesman, adding that the airline anticipates the authorities will release the aircraft later today.
He says Lion Air discovered the part was missing when it carried out an ‘A-check’ and that the airline’s management then ordered that all the other MD-90s in the fleet also be inspected.
According to Flight’s ACAS database Lion Air has five MD-90s and Boeing Capital owns all of them.
Officials at Jakarta airport and Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Commission told the news media a few days ago that it was a section of wing that was found but this has proved to be incorrect.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
