ITALY: Italian police believe that faulty second-hand spare parts for airplanes, fraudulently sold as new by an Italian supplier, may have provoked at least two recent air disasters including that at Queens, New York last November when an American Airlines Airbus A300 crashed with the loss of 265 lives.
Civil aviation authorities in more than 160 countries worldwide have been warned about the suspect parts following raids late last week on three Rome-based aircraft companies, Panaviation, New Tech and New Aerospace. Six people, including the head of Pan aviation, Mr Enzo Fregonese, were arrested following the raids which were the result of a tip-off.
Thanks to the tip-off, which came from an unnamed source already involved in the investigation, police went straight to Hangar 8 at Rome's international airport at Fiumicino. There they found six Airbus A 300s destined for demolition, but in the process of being stripped for spare parts by personnel who, according to the police, were not qualified for such work. Panaviation had allegedly bought the six Airbus planes from Alitalia in 1992.
Police believe that the three Italian companies operated a simple scam which saw them pass off as new spare parts that had in fact been systematically stripped from planes due for demolition. Investigators yesterday said that up to 10,000 spare parts are now being examined, adding that the three Italian companies had sold a large quantity of "reconditioned" equipment to airlines in Italy, Europe and the US.
Italian police sources also confirmed that two US companies, Danbee Aerospace and Mitchell, are also under investigation.
Furthermore, FBI investigators are looking into a possible Italian connection to the Queens disaster of last November. Right from the beginning, the investigation into the Queens crash has focused on the possibility of faulty spare parts having been fitted to the Airbus A300. In particular, FBI investigators have looked into both the areas of engine failure and rudder malfunction.
Italian investigators are also looking into a February 1999 crash at Genoa airport in which four people lost their lives after a Minerva airlines Dornier 328 failed to brake in time and shot off the end of the runway crashing into the sea. Documentation suggests that Panaviation sold brake equipment to Minerva airlines even though a company spokesman this week claimed that Minerva had bought only "lights and washers" from Panaviation.
A court hearing into the Genoa disaster ruled that it had come about from "human error" on the part of the pilot, but others argued that the crash had been caused by brake malfunction.
Even as investigators are looking into other Italian air disasters, the head of Italy's Civil Aviation Authority said he was convinced that "there's no direct connection between recent air disasters and the sale of spare parts by Panaviation".