High hopes for 757's return to flying duty

The Air Force hopes to have both of its Boeing 757 aircraft in service by the middle of next month after nearly three months of getting by with just one because of mechanical problems.
One of the aircraft has been grounded at Base Auckland, Whenuapai since January 18 with one of its two Rolls-Royce engines under repair in Hong Kong.

Taking up the strain for 40 Squadron is the plane which caused a mid-air emergency over Auckland on July 28.

Flames were seen shooting from the rear of an engine about 30 seconds after the aircraft took off with 20 Air Force staff heading for the Middle East .

Defence spokesman Squadron Leader Glenn Davis said the "flame-out" was caused by a compressor problem that was repaired by the Whenuapai maintenance engineers.

But he said the problem causing the latest aircraft grounding - excessive oil consumption - was too serious to be fixed locally.

Hong Kong Aero Services did such work for Rolls-Royce, but the repair had taken longer than expected because the workshop was very busy.

Squadron Leader Davis said the Air Force had hoped to lease an engine from overseas while repairs were carried out but none was available.

He said the engine was now ready for fitting to the aircraft, which after test flights should be ready for service in the middle of next month.

In August 2004 this aircraft was grounded in Samoa for several days as it returned from taking the Prime Minister to the South Pacific Forum.

A replacement engine had to be flown to Fiji and the aircraft then went for repair in the United States.

Squadron Leader Davis said both aircraft had experienced compressor problems due to the humidity of Auckland and new measures had been taken to protect the engines.

He said the Air Force used its Hercules transport aircraft to cover for the Boeings when one was out of service for maintenance.