Duct Tape (Speed Tape) on 737 Engine Cover - DCA>MIA

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Nov 25, 2009, 3:14 pm

#16

emma dog

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Quote:

Originally Posted by pauleeepaul

Hmm perhaps as it was on the wing it was duck tape?

Believe it or not, Duck Tape was the original name of the stuff.

Nov 25, 2009, 4:01 pm

#17

cs19

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This has been discussed time and time again by Patrick Smith.

http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_...112/index.html

Quote:

Please tell me the following photograph, sent to me by a friend who swears he took the picture himself, is doctored.

I'm willing to bet the picture is not doctored. What you see is the perfectly safe and legal application of some heavy-duty aluminum bonding tape, called "speed tape" in the mechanic's lexicon. Depending on what a plane's maintenance manual stipulates -- according to the dictates of the FAA -- certain noncritical components can be temporarily patched with this material, embarrassing as it sometimes looks. It's extremely strong, durable, and able to expand and contract through an extreme range of temperatures.

Here you see speed tape covering a crack or some other superficial defect in a flap track fairing. That bullet-shaped fairing is just a cover, a streamlining shell, that conceals the tracks and hinges of the wing's trailing edge flaps.

And again:
http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/...329/index.html

Quote:

It fills me with despair that people refused to board that flight to Philadelphia over something so minor. The jet was perfectly airworthy. Though from an airline P.R. point of view, I'm not sure which is more of a potential black eye, a fairing that's been removed, or one that looks like this.

That picture, sent in by an agonized passenger, ran in a column several years back. A similar picture was making the Internet rounds a few weeks ago, so let's revisit. What you're looking at is the perfectly safe and legal application of heavy-duty aluminum bonding tape, called "speed tape" in a mechanic's lexicon. Depending on what a plane's maintenance manual stipulates -- the manual itself being under the aegis of the FAA -- certain noncritical components, such as the flap fairing shown, can be temporarily patched with this material. Embarrassing as it looks, it has virtually no bearing on safety. The tape is extremely durable and is able to expand and contract through a wide range of temperatures.

Nov 25, 2009, 4:23 pm

#18

videomaker

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I've seen the tape before, too, but it didn't concern me enough to start a thread on FT.

Quote:

Originally Posted by burtonmadness

I spotted a small hydraulic leak on an air-brake once, and made a point of telling the Caption.

You still hearing strange noises on your flights when you're not spotting supposed hydraulic fuel leaks? Are you an airline mechanic or a pilot who's trained to spot those things?

Nov 25, 2009, 4:45 pm

#19

nubudu

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It is speed tape. It is an aluminum tape used for temporary skin repairs.

FYI - we save the duct tape for fixing the inside of the plane

Nov 25, 2009, 4:47 pm

#20

videomaker

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Quote:

Originally Posted by nubudu

FYI - we save the duct tape for fixing the inside of the plane

The voice of experience! ^

Nov 25, 2009, 6:12 pm

#21

KD5MDK

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Quote:

Originally Posted by pauleeepaul

Hmm perhaps as it was on the wing it was duck tape?

As long as it isn't turkey tape. That won't last more than a day.

Nov 25, 2009, 7:17 pm

#22

burtonmadness

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Quote:

Originally Posted by videomaker

I've seen the tape before, too, but it didn't concern me enough to start a thread on FT.

You still hearing strange noises on your flights when you're not spotting supposed hydraulic fuel leaks? Are you an airline mechanic or a pilot who's trained to spot those things?

You can call me "attentive", but not to the point of being obsessive though. Like many on FT, i probably make about 120 segments a year and with that many ups/down you notice the "little things", as most of the big things are trivial. (Heavy turbulence etc.)

You notice when you make an approach out of character to an airport (eg: landing at SFO from the North or East), or no throttleback from an airport that normally demands it like SNA. I'm not a mechanism, flown a few light aircraft, had my gliding license since I was 16, but I'm one of those people who have to know how EVERYTHING works.

So, a little hydraulic oil leaking from an air-brake actuator is not serious enough to ground an aircraft, and there's a possiblity that once the brakes are put away, would not be noticed for a while.

BM

Nov 25, 2009, 7:23 pm

#23

videomaker

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Quote:

Originally Posted by burtonmadness

You can call me "attentive", but not to the point of being obsessive though.

I'm just wondering how many of us are really capable of interpreting things we may see or hear that to us, at least, seem unusual. A different approach or an unusual sound--or a piece of tape on the outside of the plane--may be perfectly normal.

Nov 25, 2009, 8:39 pm

#24

Travailen

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Quote:

Originally Posted by pauleeepaul

Hmm perhaps as it was on the wing it was duck tape?

That was a bad 'wise quack'... uuuugh!

Nov 25, 2009, 8:45 pm

#25

Travailen

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Quote:

Originally Posted by videomaker

We're probably not, which is why we should do as burtonmadness did and inform FA/Flight crew -- better to point out a potential problem and be wrong, then not to report and be fish bait.

Nov 25, 2009, 9:33 pm

#26

Non-NonRev

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This reminds me of an incident a few years ago, flying CO - pushing back from the gate at OAK, I happened to glance outside and saw a piece of the front engine cowling fall to the ground. I informed the F/A, who in turn informed the cockpit. We returned to the gate, where I and the other pax watched as the maintenance crew re-attaced the cowling with speed tape.

We then resumed our flight, during which the pilot came on the intercom to explain that the parts needed to permanently secure the cowling were not in stock at OAK, but that the speed tape would be perfectly OK until we reached DEN (where CO had a maintenance base at that time).

Nov 25, 2009, 9:49 pm

#27

videomaker

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Travailen

We're probably not, which is why we should do as burtonmadness did and inform FA/Flight crew -- better to point out a potential problem and be wrong, then not to report and be fish bait.

I'd rather not bother the flight crew, though, with a problem I imagined.

If something is obviously wrong, that's one thing. But again, sometimes things which seem to us to be unusual just aren't.