Bird Grounds New DCS

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30827, 12 August 1965, Page 3

Bird Grounds New DCS

GV.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Aug. 11. The new Air New Zealand DCB airliner was grounded today by damage believed caused by a bird on a training flight on Tuesday. The damage to the inboard port engine was not noticed until a routine inspection after the airliner landed. The aircraft had behaved normally. The engine was replaced by a new one today and the air-

liner will resume its training flights in the morning. The damaged engine will be stripped and thoroughly inspected by airline engineers and officials of the Civil Aviation Department. An airline engineer said tonight that the damage to one of the compressor blades about two feet inside the engine inlet appeared to have been caused by a bird although there was no trace of the bird from an outside inspection. “But we are fairly certain it was a bird.” he said. Mr F. A. Reeves, general manager of the airline, said the extent of the damage

would not be known until the engine was stripped down. A single bird could not cause much damage, “but one bird is one too many," he said. “You never know when you are going to get a flock and that could be very dangerous.

“We feel that the Civil Aviation Department has got to do a great deal more against the bird hazard.” Mr Reeves said that the cost of inspecting and repairing the engine would not be known until it had been taken down. The work will be done at Mechanics Bay and is expected to take two or three days. Figures released by 8.0.A.C. show that the cost of an engine overhaul, which is nearly always necessary after any ingestion, is £ll,OOO for an Avon engine in a Comet 4 and £18,500 for a Conway engine in a Boeing 707. Mr A. Holdsworth, regional superintendent in Auckland for the Civil Aviation Department,’ said tonight steps would be taken to see if measures against the bird hazard at the airport could be speeded up. “But we cannot do much until we get the new roosting area ready on Wiroa Island,” he said. “There is not much point in harassing the birds until they have somewhere else to go.” Mr K. J. Drams, Ministry of Works project engineer at the airport, said the new roosts would probably not be ready until the beginning of October. “We can only go as fast as the weather will allow us,” he said, “and it has been very unkind lately.”