Thats a bulb seal that is torn. Those are used to seal gaps between movable surfaces. It is a wear item and easily replaced. Not a safety critical part.
how is that not a saftery critical part, it is litteralry there to seal shit up, strong airflow flows into that that surface is broken then due to airpressure, created of the air moving rapidly in the slot
It’s not safety critical. There can be performance decreases. I don’t have the CDL handy but I think you can trim the entire seal away on all onboard ailerons and fly with a very small penalty. Maintenance will cut it away at a line station and then create an item to replace when the CDL, engineering authorization or other form of compliance for the condition expires.
@@pyc789 Safety critical means "plane has a higher chance of crashing if this fails", this is more like "plane will lose one mile per gallon of fuel economy"
@@pyc789 not sure what name Boeing use but at Airbus this seal is a cat d part. This means it has no structural integrity and it posses no danger to anybody on the ground if it falls off therefore it can be replaced during the next available maintenance.
As an airline mechanic at SFO, I have replaced quite a few of these flaperon seals at C check. They are usually worn through along the contact point with the adjacent flap or torn at the forward and aft attach points. The seal rides in a retainer and is held at each end with a single screw, washer and a nut. We get the seal material in ten foot lengths and cut them to length for installation. Notice in the close up that there is a shorter segment forward of the damaged one. I have not replaced one of these seals with this kind of damage so I have a theory as to how it got so destroyed. What you see here is not typical wear. My guess is that the installer of this seal, sealed both ends with RTV. It may keep moisture out but has the disadvantage of not being able to equalize pressure. I think that when the aircraft reached cruising altitude, or as early as just passing through 20,000 feet, the seal blew up like a balloon and just exploded from differential pressure.
That seems like a good analysis. As I recall, these seals are a gray rubber analog with a wear resistant, unstrechable, dacron-like layer bonded to the rubber. Underlying rubber stretches, surface layer tears and disbonds, RU-vid video is posted and discussions ensue.
Does rubber seals break all the time. It looks worse than it really is but is really used to seal the gap between the flight control, is not safety of flight issue.
Reminds me of some comedy podcast I listened to where the guy said he swore part of the plane had duct tape holding it together flapping in the wind. It was probably just this.
also known at 200 mph tape, and it works great. I used to be a flight engineer on C-141's. Had a landing light that wouldn't retract so we took it out and taped over the hole. 8 hours later it was still on.
That one seal is literally the only thing holding the airplane together. According to the Boeing MCOM, if it goes, your seat bursts into flames and falls through the floor while a bigger man sleeps with your wife.
It doesn't affect the flight at all. Having a broken seal just decreases fuel economy. No danger at all. Planes are fully capable of flying without a seal.
