The affair of false airworthiness certificates which currently affects the CFM56 engine should not mask a long list of cases of falsified documents, theft and parts “lost” during transport. Reading the EASA website is also edifying.
CFM56: large-scale falsification
As the days pass, the case of falsified certificates of authorization to place into service of CFM56 engine parts continues to gain momentum. At the beginning of September, CFM International, the joint venture of GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines, had uncovered 72 falsified documents covering 50 part references. Since then, these figures have been rounded and around a hundred CFM56s in Europe and the United States are affected, while this practice of false airworthiness certificates has extended to the GE Aerospace CF6 engine, according to the latest FAA alert bulletin. .
False documents, falsified forms, theft or “loss” of spare parts
If the CFM56 occupies everyone’s minds due to the importance of the falsifications carried out, the world of MRO does not escape small and serious crime which is not limited to the theft of electrical cables, truck or tractor batteries , metals of all kinds,…. You just have to go to the EASA website or EASA for European Aviation Safety Agency to realize that the cases of false documents, thefts and “losses” of spare parts during transport are, without being daily, common practice. Like this other case which has occupied the EASA since the beginning of 2023: the 28 tire pressure sensors for landing gear for Airbus A310 and A320 which were lost during their transport between the production site and the line assembly.
In 2020, an American spare parts distributor, based in Florida, was singled out for falsifying commissioning authorization certificates. Between August 24, 2017 and August 4, 2023, the EASA website lists 82 cases of suspicious parts and cases of proven theft, possible theft or “loss during transport” amount to 178 between July 17, 2008 and June 21, 2023. And this concerns all types of parts and all types of aircraft, from theft on an airfield to “lost” packages.
The EASA alert system
Also proof that the alert system between authorities responsible for air safety is working. The EASA also invites everyone to create an account to keep up to date with developments in this “news” section of air transport.
