An FAA suspected unapproved parts (SUPs) notice issued Sept. 21 flagging GE Aerospace CF6 inlet guide vane shroud bushings provides more details on how broker AOG Technics forged paperwork to pass undocumented parts off as airworthy.
The notice identifies the bushings as the first CF6 parts found with paperwork forged by AOG Technics. It also suggests AOG Technics tried to pass them off as new parts.
TAP Maintenance & Engineering brought the parts to GE Aerospace’s attention in late July, and the company filed a SUPs report the following day, a summary of a court filing linked to a lawsuit against AOG Technics revealed.
More CF6 parts distributed by AOG Technics with forged documents have turned up among an inventory of thousands of parts the broker apparently bought and sold with paperwork confirmed as fake. Most of the parts are for CFM56s, but the number of CF6 parts is in the “hundreds,” the filing summary said.
The FAA notice provides more details on what helped tip off MRO shops and regulators that AOG Technics’ documentation was not generated by the manufacturers, but rather forged.
On the falsified FAA 8130-3 airworthiness approval documents, or tags, sent with the CF6 parts, lists the part as a “bushing.” But GE’s common terminology for the form is “bushing shrd (IGV),” the FAA notice said.
Language is also missing from the form’s “user/installer responsibilities” block. “GE does not remove boilerplate language from the FAA Form 8130-3,” the notice said.
The FAA also flagged boxes not grayed out on the CF6 forms that should be grayed out “for new articles.”
CFM and co-owners GE Aerospace and Safran have been working with regulators since mid-June to unravel a tangled web of illegal parts sales by London-based AOG Technics. About 90 cases of forged documents have been confirmed. They were shipped along with thousands of parts; one airworthiness approval tag can cover many of the same parts.
Parts traced to AOG Technics have been found in about 90 engines so far. Some were pulled from service to have the parts replaced, while others were undergoing scheduled maintenance.
London’s High Court on Sept. 20 gave AOG Technics 14 days to produce documentation on the broker’s purchases and sales of CFM56 and CF6 parts. The ruling came in response to a suit filed by CFM, GE, and Safran. A summary of the companies’ argument revealed that thousands of parts have been linked to falsified records by airlines and maintenance shops in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, North America, and South America.
