Official investigation shows battery shelf life ended 14 months before
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: The battery for the underwater locator beacon on the MH370 flight data recorder, one of the two “black boxes” on the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft, had expired in December 2012, about 14 months before the plane went missing, according to the official investigation.
There was no evidence to suggest that the battery had been replaced before the expiry date, the report said.
However, the battery for the beacon on the cockpit voice recorder, the other black box, was replaced as scheduled in June 2014.
Underwater beacons are required by international law to work for a minimum of 30 days.
The report said that “while there is a definite possibility that a ULB will operate past the expiry date on the device, it is not guaranteed that it will work or that it would meet the 30-day minimum requirement.
“There is also limited assurance that the nature of the signal (characteristics such as frequency and power) will remain within specification when battery voltage drops below the nominal 30-day level,” the official Factual Information report said.
Both crash-protected recorders were equipped as provided by the regulations with ULB whose transmission time is at least 30 days, on the 37.5 kHz frequency, operating depth up to 20,000 ft (6096 m) and activated with fresh or salt water immersion.
Technical log records showed that the flight data recorder and its beacon was replaced on 29 Feb 2008; the installation records showed that the expiry date for the ULB battery was December 2012.
Interviews with the MAS Engineering staff revealed that the Engineering Maintenance System computer to track and call out maintenance was not updated correctly when the flight data recorder was replaced in February 2008.
Although the old unit was removed from the system, the new unit was inadvertently not installed.
As the system record was not updated “it did not trigger for the removal of the SSFDR for replacement of the ULB battery when it was due,” the report said.
This oversight was not noted until after MH370 disappeared a year ago today, when details of the ULBs were requested.
The report said MAS Engineering had since carried out a fleet-wide inspection of ULB records to ensure that the records of other aircraft were updated accordingly.
- BERNAMA
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: The battery for the underwater locator beacon on the MH370 flight data recorder, one of the two “black boxes” on the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft, had expired in December 2012, about 14 months before the plane went missing, according to the official investigation.
There was no evidence to suggest that the battery had been replaced before the expiry date, the report said.
However, the battery for the beacon on the cockpit voice recorder, the other black box, was replaced as scheduled in June 2014.
Underwater beacons are required by international law to work for a minimum of 30 days.
The report said that “while there is a definite possibility that a ULB will operate past the expiry date on the device, it is not guaranteed that it will work or that it would meet the 30-day minimum requirement.
“There is also limited assurance that the nature of the signal (characteristics such as frequency and power) will remain within specification when battery voltage drops below the nominal 30-day level,” the official Factual Information report said.
Both crash-protected recorders were equipped as provided by the regulations with ULB whose transmission time is at least 30 days, on the 37.5 kHz frequency, operating depth up to 20,000 ft (6096 m) and activated with fresh or salt water immersion.
Technical log records showed that the flight data recorder and its beacon was replaced on 29 Feb 2008; the installation records showed that the expiry date for the ULB battery was December 2012.
Interviews with the MAS Engineering staff revealed that the Engineering Maintenance System computer to track and call out maintenance was not updated correctly when the flight data recorder was replaced in February 2008.
Although the old unit was removed from the system, the new unit was inadvertently not installed.
As the system record was not updated “it did not trigger for the removal of the SSFDR for replacement of the ULB battery when it was due,” the report said.
This oversight was not noted until after MH370 disappeared a year ago today, when details of the ULBs were requested.
The report said MAS Engineering had since carried out a fleet-wide inspection of ULB records to ensure that the records of other aircraft were updated accordingly.
- BERNAMA
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