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FOD Incident


DCC1598
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This incident occurred last August. Damage was noted during pre I's and E's inspection. Upon further inspection we found extensive damage throughout the rest of the engine. Investigators determined that damage had to come from two after body screws that were found to be missing. I was hesitant to accept this explanation because I just dont see how they could have ended up in the intake. I have seen afterbody screws back out before and I usually find them down in the oil pan. My supervision was more focused on pointing the finger at us crew chiefs so they automatically assume human error in that we should have seen those screws missing two days earlier during a combo. I am curious if any of you guys have ever encountered damage like this from after body hardware.

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I've heard of an engine being trashed by afterbody bolts, but only because the person removed the prop for a thrustnut seal leak run and had left the afterbody bolts laying on the prop drain pan prior to the run. You didn't mention the prop being removed, so my imagination doesn't allow me to see how they can get in the intake.

You also said "screws" and I can't imagine which screws you are referring to.

With the prop installed, the front spinner installed, and the afterbodies installed; hardware in the intake is difficult to imagine without human intervention.

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Hard to say off the pics, need to get up close and all touchy-feely. If, and I say IF, this was

afterbody bolts, you're lucky to get away with such a small amount of damage. The washers

and nuts from the anti icing tabs can slip through the gap between the a/b and drip-pan lip,

and the damage visible is more consistent with one of these smaller items.

DSC08087.jpg

The cause .....

The result .....

DSC08099.jpg

DSC08097.jpg

DSC08096.jpg

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I've heard of an engine being trashed by afterbody bolts, but only because the person removed the prop for a thrustnut seal leak run and had left the afterbody bolts laying on the prop drain pan prior to the run. You didn't mention the prop being removed, so my imagination doesn't allow me to see how they can get in the intake.

You also said "screws" and I can't imagine which screws you are referring to.

With the prop installed, the front spinner installed, and the afterbodies installed; hardware in the intake is difficult to imagine without human intervention.

Sorry, I was referring to the bolts.

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  • 1 month later...

I've heard of an engine being trashed by afterbody bolts, but only because the person removed the prop for a thrustnut seal leak run and had left the afterbody bolts laying on the prop drain pan prior to the run. You didn't mention the prop being removed, so my imagination doesn't allow me to see how they can get in the intake.

You also said "screws" and I can't imagine which screws you are referring to.

With the prop installed, the front spinner installed, and the afterbodies installed; hardware in the intake is difficult to imagine without human intervention.

----- Hey Steve, I was stationed at Pope AFB when the guys did that! They had pulled the prop, re-sealed the thrustnut and started the thing up to leak check the thrust nut. They did leave one set (2) from one side of the after body laying in the drip pan. Actually I think that they were on that little shelf up from the drip pan. Engine started and sucked them in. I know the name of the guy who did that do you?

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Back in the mid eighties, we had an aircraft ingest a bolt that totaled a T-56 at Clark.

Pilot had started up and was in reverse thrust to back out of his parking spot when the engine wound down. When we got the engine back to the shop and split the compressor case, all we got were potato chips. Yup, not a single blade was intact. They found the FOD which, on metallurgical examination was found not to belong to the aircraft. All we could surmise was that someone had tossed the bolt into the intake when it was parked overnight and the ground crew had missed it during their BF.

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