British airlines on red alert over fake jet engine parts

The British airline industry is currently on red alert after a London supplier was accused of selling jet engine parts with fraudulent safety certificates, leading the regulator to investigate.

AOG Technics Ltd, based in London, is being investigated by regulators over claims it supplied fake parts for jet engines powering many older-generation Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 planes.

According to Dailymail, the scandal has already engulfed the US airline industry. After American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines pulled planes from their rosters, Delta Airlines announced on Monday that it has also removed several engines from service.

The UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has confirmed some parts sourced from AOG Technics are on engines fitted to UK aircraft. The agency has issued a safety notice to all UK organisations warning them to investigate their records thoroughly to check the source of aircraft parts.

A spokesperson from the CAA told Mail Online: “We can confirm that we are one of a number of organisations looking into this, but we are unable to comment further on ongoing investigations.”

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The regulator has recommended that all CAMO, operators, owners and maintainers and distributers investigate their records thoroughly to “determine the provenance of any parts acquired either directly or indirectly from Aircraft On Ground Technics.

“For each part obtained, please contact the approved organisation identified on the ARC [airworthiness release certificates] to verify the origin of the certificate,” the Civil Aviation Authority said.

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“If the approved organisation attests that the ARC did not originate from that organisation, then all affected parts should be quarantined to prevent installation. If a part is found with falsified ARC which has already been installed it should be replaced with an approved part.”