Hoax Email - Aircraft Corrosion

There is an email going around, your Corrosion Blog editor has received it, called Aircraft Corrosion. The email is discussed on the extremely useful and entertaining "fact-checking" urban legends website snopes.com here. Public awareness of the dangers of corrosion is beneficial but spreading false tales is not. If you receive this email, I suggest that you do not forward it and reply to the sender letting them know that the email is a hoax, with the link to the snopes site (or this post).

The pictures are from a simulation of an actual crash in 2007. The failure was attributed to out-of-spec structural member that ultimately failed due to fatigue cracking. The pilot was able to eject safely and suffered a broken arm, dislocated shoulder, and cuts and bruises.

There I was just flying along, enjoying the flight...

And what's so cool is they actually pay me to do this!

Hmmm... What's that strange sound? Something feels different!

Hey, why am I looking up?

Whoa here. Controls aren't working.

Time for a mirror check. ?Hey, where's the rest of my F-15?

Uh oh, it's over there.? I think I've got a definite 'Aw, hell' going on here.

I gotta wonder, am I the first guy to ever experience 'cockpit-airframe separation anxiety?'

OK, enough is enough! I'm outta' here! But first, the canopy has to go...

OK, now it's my turn. I'm gonna be gone - soon as I find that frickin' lower handle.

Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

This 'incident' caused the USAF to ground its fleet of F-15's.

How about the guy who took these pictures? Just when it looks like it's going to be just another 'average day at the office'.. You never know!

What caused the mid air break up? The main "longeron" (stringer) behind the cockpit failed due to corrosion.

NTSB Says Corrosion Found on Marshall, Michigan Ruptured Pipe

Close-up view of the section of pipe containing rupture

In testimony to a U.S. House of Representatives committee today, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah A.P. Hersman provided an update on the progress of the NTSB's investigation into an oil spill in Marshall, Michigan in July. Investigators found corrosion on the exterior surface of the accident pipe piece and the second pipe piece, and found surface cracks and indications of corrosion on the ruptured pipe. Government investigators estimate that between 800,000 and 1 million gallons of oil spilled as a result of the Marshall pipeline rupture.

For the full trascript of Ms. Hersman's testimony, see here.

For more information on the pipeline incident, see here.

U.S. Probes Gulf Oil Fire Involving Paint Crew

Federal authorities are investigating the cause of a blaze that broke out Thursday (Sept. 2) while a 13-member painting and cleaning crew was working aboard an oil and natural-gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico. U.S. Coast Guard helicopters planned this weekend to survey the site of Mariner Energy Inc.’s Vermilion Block 380 platform, about 100 miles off the Louisiana coast, to determine whether the platform was leaking oil.

From SSPC's PaintSquare News.