GMCforum
For enthusiast of the Classic GMC Motorhome built from 1973 to 1978. A web-based mirror of the GMCnet mailing list.
Home » Public Forums » GMCnet » [GMCnet] Another trip screwed up by another China built electric fuel pump
Re: [GMCnet] Another trip screwed up by another China built electric fuel pump [message #322696 is a reply to message #322683] Sat, 26 August 2017 17:29 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
USAussie is currently offline  USAussie   United States
Messages: 15912
Registered: July 2007
Location: Sydney, Australia
Karma:
Senior Member
G'day,

As most of you know I worked for the Hamilton Standard Division of The United Technologies Corporation as a Field Service Rep and
was based in Hong Kong from 1991 to 1999. I visited all the Chinese airlines in existence at that time quarterly. While I saw some
nightmare practices when the Chinese were left to their own devices there were products that were as good as any made anywhere in
the world. The following is what I KNOW about manufacturing in China during that time period. Obviously I don't know what is
happening in 2017.

1) When an American aircraft company sold an aircraft to China the Chinese required offset credits. They had to buy product to the
value of 15% of the contract. For example if Boeing sold them a Boeing 747-400 (price around $150,000,000 at the time) they had to
buy $22,250,000 worth of Chinese products. In Boeings case to meet this requirement they set up a production line for the B737
vertical stabilizer at the Xian Aircraft Factory (XAC) in Xian, China. The shipped ALL the tools and equipment to produce part. They
then shipped ALL the materials to produce the part including rough forgings that needed to be CNC machined. They had a team of
Boeing personnel on site that managed the process that duplicated the methods and procedures used in the USA (or anyplace else their
parts were manufactured). I saw the results of this process and the parts were as good as any US made products. Think about it for a
moment, do you think Boeing would build aircraft with sub standard parts?

2) British Aerospace (BAE) sold the BAE-146 to China, the entered into a deal with the Harbin Aircraft Company HAC) to produce the
doors for the aircraft as an offset. The first lot was for 10 ship sets (a ship set is all the door required to build one aircraft).
I don't know if BAE provided HAC with the tools and materials as Boeing. I do know that when BAE went to Harbin to inspect the 10
ship sets they rejected a significant number of the doors. HAC wanted BAE to pay them for the good doors and they would fix the
rejected doors. BAE refused telling the Chinese that Chinese airlines wanted doors on the aircraft when BAE delivered them.

3) The XAC built a copy of the Fokker F-27 called the Yun-7 (regional / commuter aircraft with a high wing and turbo prop engine).
They wanted to sell them to the world but no one was interested, the airframe was fine but the systems sucked. They went to Pratt &
Whitney, Hamilton Standard, Bendix, Parker Hannifin, etc. and bought systems to replace the Chinese systems. When we proposed
selling them a composite propeller that went 6000 hours time between overhaul (TBO) they said that was IMPOSSIBLE we couldn't build
a propeller that went that many hours! We assured them they would (HS makes the props for the DeHavilland Dash 7, Dash 8, Avion
Transport Regional ATR-42 & -72, Casa Nurtanio CN-235, and Saab Fairchild SF-340 and they all had props that had a 6000 TBO). We
asked what the TBO was for the Chinese props on the Yun-7 was and were informed 600 hours. NO WONDER they didn't believe SIX
THOUSAND HOURS! The same scenario existed for the engines; however, I don't remember the TBO on the engine but it was laughable.

4) Lufthansa went into partnership with Air China to set up an aircraft maintenance company, it was called Ameco-Beijing. Talk about
a marriage NOT made in heaven. I am of German descent and speak German, whenever I would visit the Germans would tell me stories of
things the Chinese did that would make your hair stand on end.

5) I was visiting China Northern Airlines in Shenyang and stopped by the GE Reps office. He had a massive snap ring sitting on his
desk and since I had never seen one as large I asked him about it. He noted it went around the main shaft of a GE engine and was
part of the system that held the main shaft together. He handed it to me and told me to look it over and note what I saw. I did so
and said it seemed a bit rough. He then said 'well that's because China Northern engineering made it themselves because the genuine
GE part was too expensive!"

6) During the same visit McDonnell Douglas had a team in Shenyang repairing a DC-9 that a Chinese pilot had run the wing tip into
the ground (I don't know how he did it). One of the Chinese engineers came up to them and told them that their company built poor
quality aircraft. They asked him why he said that and he told them that they "bend." Obviously this created concern so they asked
him for more details. He took them over to a DC-9 and showed them that the skin was all wrinkled near the tail. They thanked him for
showing them the "poor quality aircraft" and called the local rep over to the aircraft to show him the "poor quality aircraft." The
bottom line is that aircraft had undergone an EXTREMELY hard landing. The local rep went through the aircraft log book but couldn't
find any reports of a hard landing (which is required). He did find an entry noting that all the tires had been changed a couple of
weeks previously. The hard landing was not reported because the pilot would have "lost face."

7) Along with the visiting the airlines I'd check out the local tourist spots plus I would have taxi drivers take me to where they
sold tools and hardware. I needed an impact drill because the house in Hong Kong was poured concrete. I found a Hitachi brand drill
for around $100 US. Sitting right next to it was a Hit brand drill that looked EXACTLY like the Hitachi the only difference was the
color of the plastic housing. It was $50. I asked some contacts I had in Hong Kong that worked for companies that purchased tools
and equipment from China and they advised that they would contract for 1000 pieces and the Chinese would make more and sell them on
the local market and some of them would find their way out of China. I asked why they put up with that kind of monkey business and
they all said that it was a common practice and if you terminate the contract they continue to make them anyway and the new
manufacturer would probably do the same and good luck suing them in a Chinese court!

8) I visited the Guangzhou (Canton) Trade fair yearly from 1991 to 1999 and noted that the quality of the tools improved
consistently. They figgered out the better the tools were made the more money they could get for them.

I may be returning to China in October for a 10 day tour, I'm looking forward to seeing the changes. I think I might just do some
tool shopping as well, as most of you know you NEVER have enough tools! :-)

Regards,
Rob M.
The Pedantic Mechanic
Sydney, Australia
AUS '75 Avion - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428
USA '75 Avion - Double Trouble TZE365V100426
USA '77 Kingsley - TZE 267V100808


_______________________________________________
GMCnet mailing list
Unsubscribe or Change List Options:
http://list.gmcnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gmclist_list.gmcnet.org

Regards, Rob M. (USAussie) The Pedantic Mechanic Sydney, Australia '75 Avion - AUS - The Blue Streak TZE365V100428 '75 Avion - USA - Double Trouble TZE365V100426

Report message to a moderator

[Message index]
 
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Previous Topic: [GMCnet] Twin Bed in 26-3
Next Topic: [GMCnet] Trick to screw fuel line into carb?
Goto Forum:
  


Current Time: Fri May 17 05:03:37 CDT 2024

Total time taken to generate the page: 0.02508 seconds
.:: Contact :: Home ::.

Powered by: FUDforum 3.1.1.
Copyright ©2001-2021 FUDforum Bulletin Board Software