February 2011 - Indian Airforce

WO Ram KaranIwas posted as Warrant Officer in charge ofAircraft Special Vehicle ASV Section of a premiumfighter base in the northern sector. The squadronwas recently supplied with two mobile Air Fieldcompressors by a civil firm. During the acceptanceof the equipment the representatives of the OEMcarried out all the laid down checks as per themanual.The IncidentNext day, during the DI, it was found that adipstick of one of the compressors was broken. Thiscompressor was declared unservicable and thematter was taken up with the OEM. After a few daysthe representative of the firm came to investigatethe matter. Prima-Facie it appeared to be a case ofan implied foreign object since the question was‘where was the lost piece lodged?’InvestigationThe OEM representative tried to suck out thesuspected foreign object from the sump of thecompressor by using a magnet through the dipstick hole while it was running. But, nothing couldbe retrieved. The only option left was to open upthe gear box of the compressor, which took almosta day to be completed.damage. I asked the representative how could ithappen. He had no answer. The fact was that thebolts could not have gone inside after assemblyof the compressor, as there was no passage whichcould allow the bolts to pass through. The onlypossibility of going into the crank case was duringits manufacturing or assembly.After Foreign Object Removal the compressorwas assembled and functional test was carried out.It was serviceable. Had this breaking of the dipstick not been taken seriously, FOD would havecompletely written off the compressor.Lesson Learnt Never assume a component / equipment to beperfect if it is new, everyone is liable to mistakes. Never ignore even the minutest of a problemof your ac / equipment. It may be a precursor tosomething big. Timely reporting and a full-fledged investiationin any unservicablity saves time and effort in thelong run.- WO Ram KaranEditor’s comment: Machines and people both giveample indication of impending failure. We just needto observe and Report to strike out ‘CHALTA HAI’.When the top portion of the crank case ofthe compressor was opened we were utterlysurprised to discover the items at thebottom of the sump. There were twobolts of dimensions 30 mm and 14mm length, which had caused theINDIAN AIR FORCE 2 0 1 1 F e b r u a r y Aerospace Safety 29