“This is about documents that have been falsified, forged and counterfeited,” said Joe Buccino, a Spirit spokesman. “Once we realized the counterfeit titanium made its way into the supply chain, we immediately contained all suspected parts to determine the scope of the issues.”When you're reading the list of parts that might be suspect, encountering "the bits that hold the engines to the rest of the plane" will really make you sit up and take notice.
The titanium in question has been used in a variety of aircraft parts, according to Spirit officials. For the 787 Dreamliner, that includes the passenger entry door, cargo doors and a component that connects the engines to the plane’s airframe. For the 737 Max and the A220, the affected parts include a heat shield that protects a component, which connects a jet’s engine to the frame, from extreme heat.
The train of events is very modern and international: Titanium International Group in Italy looked at the certification docs of a batch of Chinese titanium it had purchased from Turkish Aerospace Industries and thought they looked hinky, as did the metal itself. The Italians contacted their customers to warn them and now here we are with an FAA investigation.
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