SAIB NE-02-01

SPECIAL

AIRWORTHINESS

INFORMATION

BULLETIN Aircraft Certification Service Washington, DC U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Aviation Administration No. NE-02-01 October 5, 2001 We post SAIBs on the internet at "av-info.faa.gov" This is information only. Recommendations are not mandatory.

Introduction This Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin informs you, an owner or operator of Pratt & Whitney (PW) JT9D series turbofan engines and Principal Maintenance Inspectors, to the possible existence of nonconforming No.1 Fan Bearings not eligible for installation on a type certificated product.

Affected Products Pratt & Whitney JT9D-3A, -7, -7A, -7A(SP), -7AH, -7H, -7F, -7J, -20, -59A, -70A, -7Q, -7Q3 Background The FAA has received a report from MRC Bearings of certain No.1 bearings, listed in table 1, that have been remanufactured with inner race curvature and internal radial clearance outside of PW’s Engine Manual limits.

Based on technical information from MRC, we determined there is no immediate safety concern for the JT9D No.1 bearings with the referenced installed bearings. However, this out of limit No.1 Bearing configuration has not been certified or qualified for use on the JT9D. Therefore, you should not install these bearings on a type certificated product.

MRC Remanufactured Bearings affect the following operators and repair stations:

OPERATOR REPAIR STATION

SABENA VOLVO

UNITED AIRLINE PRATT CHESHIRE

KOREAN AIR LUFTHANSA IRELAND

JAL AMECO BEIJING

ISRAEL AIR GE WALES

CHINA AIR

AIR CANADA IBERIA Recommendations The Engine Certification Office (ECO) advises you, an owner or operator, not to install No.1 bearings listed in Table 1 and return those No.1 bearings to MRC Bearings. We also recommend that for engines with installed No.1 bearings listed in Table 1, you should perform an initial chip collector inspection for fine wear debris along with flakes and chips and a repetitive chip collector inspection at 250 hours interval. We recommend operators follow the Chip Collector Inspection criteria and limits outlined in the PW JT9D Engine Manual. We also recommend continuing the chip collector inspection until the subject bearing has been removed and returned to MRC at the next shop visit not to exceed 7,500 engine-hours-since-installation.

For Further Information, Contact Jason Yang, FAA Engine and Propeller Directorate, Engine Certification Office, ANE-142, 12 New England Executive Park, Burlington, MA 01803-5299; phone: (781) 238-7747; email: jason.yang@faa.gov

2 Table 1: MRC Remanufactured Bearings The following is the list of bearings subject to the action of this fleet management plan: (Please note that it is only these listed bearings that are affected by this fleet plan) The part number for each serial number listed below is: 819095.

Serial Number Serial Number 7543731287 5523890813 7543731156 552389672A 7543731197 552389130C 552389383A 7543730861 7543730728 552389521B 7543731228 7543731272 8031910144 7543731381 8031910140 7543731309 552389977A 8031910061 8031910049 7543730634 792190771B 7543730997 5523890627 0198 7543731274 7543731310 5523890920 7543730746 7543730919 7543730354 7921900869 552389517B 7543731379 792190189A 5523890810 552389102C 7543731099 552389312A 7543731217 8031910029 7543730660 7543731060 7543731402 552389888A 8031910063 7543731019 5523890474 7921900964 7543731165 552389138A 552389281A 552389301A 8031900052 7921901158 8091910038 7543731088 5523900144 552389444B 552389131C C0180 552389554B 5523890269 5523890266 7543710393