[Vn_survivor_67-68]

Parts illegally salvaged from crashes, counterfeit parts and other substandard components regularly find their way into the world's air fleets, sold at bargain prices, often with falsified documents about their origin or composition.

For the flying public, they are a growing peril.

"The whole system is contaminated,'' said Peter Friedman, director of quality at an aircraft repair station in Oakland, Calif. "In my position, I find unapproved parts on a daily basis.''

"Unapproved parts'' is the Federal Aviation Administration's term for components not certified as airworthy - from fraudulently produced knockoffs made from inadequate alloys to recycled pieces misrepresented to hide defects, age or crash damage.

In the industry, they are known as "bogus parts.'' For people with no qualms about putting the flying public at risk, it's a lucrative market. The worldwide aircraft parts inventory is worth $45 billion.
snipped from:

http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/120896/plane.htm

[jettester]

But, more than likely and from my personal experience, the vast majority of the used parts have improper or incomplete paperwork. Thus rendering them as bogus parts. I had to buy a rear evac door for an MD-80 to do a test and the parts guy asked me: "With paper or without?" I asked what the difference was and he said: "$25,000.

[Myrddin]

Alaskan Airlines had a crash due to a defective jackscrew. The part wasn't certified. It lasted long enough to get airborne and halfway through the flight before failing. The aircraft, passengers and crew experienced an extended period of harrowing malfunction before crashing into the ocean. Repairing a plane with bogus, untested parts is asking for a replay.