Flimsy strap secured $50m jet engine which fell from a truck in Arncliffe

Daily Telegraph (Sydney) ^ | 8th September 2016 | David Meddows

[naturalman1975]

THIS is the $20 strap used to secure a multi-million dollar RAAF jet engine that literally fell off the back of a flatbed truck on a major Sydney road on Tuesday.

The seven tonne General Electric CF6 is worth $40-50 million new, and is used by the Air Force’s KC-30A Multi-Role Tanker Transport aircraft, a military derivative of the Airbus A330-200.

The massive engine fell onto the road when the driver braked suddenly and the strap holding it in place snapped on Forest Road in Arncliffe at about 9.30am.

[naturalman1975]

Engine weighs 7 metric tonnes (about 15,000 pounds) and was secured as if it was a 900kg load (about 2,000 pounds).

[equaviator]

What coulb possibly go worng?

[Bullish]

If I had a dollar for every time that’s happened to me...

[Red Badger]

Somebody gots some ‘splainin’ to do!........

[Bullish]

I was a large scale machinist for several years at the end of my machinist career before I retired in 2009 (thanks a lot Obama, but that’s another story)

I did work pieces up to 20 tons so that jet engine is kinda’ small in comparison. You’d be very surprised at the very small clamps it takes to hold very large heavy stuff like that jet engine in place to machine them. We actually had parts so big and heavy they didn’t even have to be held by anything at all to mill them. They were so heavy they weren’t going anywhere. All depending on which way and what you were milling on them etc.

That strap would have probably held just fine if it had been put in place right and the load hadn’t shifted on him which it obviously did.

[anton]

Nonsense.

Here, the DOT has specific rules of cargo securement. Nothing that can shift on a trailer can be hauled without adequate securement.

Our military routinely carries much heavier loads and has an entire manual devoted to what chains and binders one need use on these loads.

[wideminded]

The seven tonne General Electric CF6 is worth $40-50 million new,

Found a 2009 article that said a company was paying $400 million list for 24 CF6 engines, which would be only $16.7 million per. Saw some other lower estimates. Probably haven't tripled in price in seven years.

[Bullish]

I understand all that. That’s not at all what I’m saying.

Sure the strap didn’t hold and it wasn’t up to the standards of what is required. What I’m saying is the trucker had probably gotten away with securing large loads wrongly many times before this incident and thought he could do it again this time. I guess I didn’t make myself very clear on that part of my statement.

Let me know when you want to call me a liar about my machining career so I can have a good laugh at someone who doesn’t know what the hell they’re talking about.... OK?

[cynwoody]

What coulb possibly go worng?

Not very much in this case (only $50m, and that's subject to dispute).

At least compared to this case of failure to secure a heavy load:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MB9JDBe4wA

There were seven aboard.

[wideminded]

Of course the Australian dollar is worth only $0.77 American but that doesn’t fully explain the cost difference.

[ADemocratNoMore]

Reminds me of what happened here - Posting link to 3000 x 1960 pixel image...

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/NOAA-N%27_accident.jpg

From the WIKI article... “On September 6, 2003, the satellite was badly damaged while being worked on at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems factory in Sunnyvale, California. The satellite fell to the floor as a team was turning it into a horizontal position. A NASA inquiry into the mishap determined that it was caused by a lack of procedural discipline throughout the facility. While the turn-over cart used during the procedure was in storage, a technician removed twenty-four bolts securing an adapter plate to it without documenting the action. The team subsequently using the cart to turn the satellite failed to check the bolts, as specified in the procedure, before attempting to move the satellite. Repairs to the satellite cost $135 million. Lockheed Martin agreed to forfeit all profit from the project to help pay for repair costs; they later took a $30 million charge relating to the incident. The remainder of the repair costs were paid by the United States government.”

[naturalman1975]

A body at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by an external force.

I get what you are saying. Just unfortunate for this guy that an external force he wasn't expecting cropped up. Of course, that's why you should always do it right every single time. If he still has a job, I hope he's learned the lesson.

[Does so]

There’s a “Forest Road” in Australia? Seems every pic of Oz has no trees whatsoever.

[Does so]

What coulb possibly go worng?

Most everyone I know would have seen there was "something wrong with that picture".

[Rebelbase]

I didn’t know Harbor Freight was in Australia also.

[Texas Fossil]

Machine shops are an art form. Regardless of how many “manuals” are written (often by those with a special degree but not great knowledge about subject matter) it is still judgment that is more important. You acquire that by doing.

I’m not a machinist, but have known some fine ones. (smile, and no, I did not stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night)

[naturalman1975]

There's an awful lot of desert, but there's plenty of trees as well :)

One of my favourite places (hope the image loads):

The love of field and coppice
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know, but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!

The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.

Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze

An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
Though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

[spokeshave]

The rule is at least 2 straps...in any case Newtons Rules Rule.....(force = mass X acceleration)

[hopespringseternal]

Lots of people run around with completely unsecured loads thinking it is too big and heavy to move. They fail to comprehend that is the problem, the load doesn’t move when the trailer it is on does. The trailer turns and the load keeps going straight.

[Does so]

I especially like tree ferns, and there’s one in that picture; however, if that (particular) forest were in California, the state would be trying to eradicate it.