COWLING WORKS LOOSE

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22357, 22 March 1938, Page 11

COWLING WORKS LOOSE

FAULTY REPLACEMENT AT SYDNEY AIRMEN THOUGHT UNAWARE OF DEFECT (press association telegram:.) WELLINGTON, March 21. A faulty replacement at Sydney of the rear portion of the cowling around the starboard engine of the Comet might have caused serious disaster, if not tragedy, while the aviators were crossing the Tasman Sea or landing at Blenheim on Sunday. During an inspection of the machine by Cook Strait Airways ground staff early this morning, it was discoveredthat the rear half of the cowling had been screwed over, instead of under, the lip of the adjoining half, and that it had worked itself loose. The aviators landed and left, it is believed, in ignorance of the misfitted cowling and its, subsequent proper adjustment. The rear portipn of the cowling rests beneath the right-hand wing and envelops an oil tank and part of the starboard engine. It is made secure by three screws, tv o of which were quite loose when the machine landed at Blenheim, and the other was beginning to work its way out from inside the block. It would be impossible for a trained eye to overlook the maladjustment of the cowling in daylight, but it is thought that when the Comet was at Mascot being efuelled and inspected at night by the ground staff there, its inspection after being replaced must have been neglected. Precisely what damage the cowling would have done to the aeroplane if it had workd loose and was torn off while 4he machine was in flight, it is fairly difficult to estimate, but according to opinions of Wellington airmen, it could possibly have damaged the tail of the machine, or the wing, prevented the landing gear from operating, or interfered with the cooling system of the engine, causing a stoppage. It was only a small matter to replace the cowling correctly.