CFM International Sixty-eight jet engines were allegedly equipped with spare parts backed by fraudulent documentation from a little-known British supplier, suggesting counterfeit parts may have been fitted to some older model aircraft.
The findings are included in a lawsuit filed by the joint venture General Electric Company and Safran According to a statement from CFM, proceedings were initiated in the UK against minority-held AOG Technics Ltd. The lawsuit seeks an injunction forcing AOG to provide more information to help the aviation industry find the suspect parts.
“Safety is our top priority and we are taking aggressive legal action against AOG Technics to improve the industry’s ability to identify parts with falsified documentation sold by this third party,” a CFM spokesperson said in a statement.
A representative for AOG could not immediately be reached for comment.
The development hints for the first time at just how many older generations airbus A320 and Boeing The 737s may contain parts that AOG London allegedly sold with falsified airworthiness records. It’s not clear if unauthorized replacement parts were used for the other engines.
European Aviation Regulator Finds AOG Provided Falsified Documentation for Parts for Repair of CFM56 Engine, World’s Best-Selling Turbine, According to Bloomberg report last week.
The industry has been rocked by a proliferation of unlicensed parts, each of which needs to be verified to keep aircraft safe. Without such a guarantee, it is impossible to know how durable a non-certified part will be under stress.
Regulators, airlines and other industry players have since scoured records to track down AOG sales of suspicious components. hazy Suppliers are at the center of the crisis. AOG has no direct relationship with CFM or its partners.
To date, CFM and GE Aerospace have uncovered 78 documents they say are falsified, covering 52 CFM56 engine part numbers, and two falsified records for CF6 components.
The companies said they had not seen any incidents related to the suspicious parts.
Earlier this week, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency Decide Components supported by the forged documents include turbine blades, a key part of the aircraft’s propulsion system.
A CFM spokesperson said: “We remain fully co-operating with aviation regulators and support their investigations of AOG Technics, and we will continue to work with customers to assess the authenticity of documentation for parts they purchase directly or indirectly from AOG Technics.”
— With assistance from Siddharth Vikram Philip and Albertina Torsoli
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