this one was an ASR Sea king that had had a bump and went for a major service to give it a good going over. it was discovered that prior to its heavy landing a crack had started that went around almost a 3rd of the bulkhead that held the whirlybits,engine and gearbox to the rest of the airframe. the crack had been getting bigger over a period of time judging by the sludge trapped within.

When I worked on Seakings, we got a telex from the Navy technical branch telling us to look for cracks in two stringers that the gearbox was bolted to. They said if the crack was more than an inch long, ground the aircraft and give tham a call. We found a crack 1.5″ long running through two rivit holes. We ran around like headless chickes for a bit then gave the navy a call. They said “Only 1.5″??? we’ve got one thats SIX FEET long!!!! Just keep an eye on it and repair it at the next major”

As for the 380. The found the cracks during an inspection and they have repaired them already. Whats the story??

Rgds Cking