Removing an engine from an airplane - GIF

[sossol]

One of the things that doomed the DC 10 as a passenger carrier is when one of the engines came off the wing and the plane crashed. Douglas had designed a special device, probably something like the one they're using here. It was emphasized that it had to be done using it. A repair crew found out it was quicker and easier to use a forklift. They had the forklift supporting the engine but not completely disengaged from the pylon. They went to lunch and while they were gone the forklift allowed the engine to drift down some. This caused a crack in a support pin on the pylon. They weren't aware of it. Afterwards the plane had a bad reputation for no good reason. Everything was okay after it was known that they couldn't do that. Thereafter the plane was used primarily as a cargo carrier. I either read something about it or saw something in a program on TV. As I remember it, it happened this way.

I saw a plane crash investigation video about this. Those techs were just lazy. All engine families have bespoke cradles for techs to use for installation/removal, but it takes a long time to set up properly.

Neil