shiv wrote:chetak wrote:
How come other manufacturers haven't ever reported such unique conditions which would have resulted in a lot of engine testing in such "unique" Indian conditions??
They have - but this is about the air force. I have heard (literally) that wear and tear of IAF engines is higher because of smoke and dust. But I am unable to provide a source - will try and locate one.
let me give you the example of flying in goa. The IN flies predominantly from coastal bases and different contaminants affect IN engines. That's why IN aviation, (as well as non aviation) equipment is "marinised" The IN engines, the airframes and the LRUs are much more expensive because of such "marinisation" incorporated into the design, build as well as the extensive + expensive lengthy testing procedures required for the qualification of such equipment.
The goan air has a very high particulate matter content and the particulate matter is predominantly iron ore dust. This comes from the open cast mining practiced in goa.
Goa has a saline atmosphere like any coastal city/state due to the high saline content of the sea air.
So, you wind up with salt, water, and iron which when put together forms a perfect battery compromising anode, cathode, and electrolyte. Currents flow in these localized batteries and produce corrosion of the engine blades apart from the abrasive problems posed by such particulate matter
I still remember, after all these years, the utter surprise and deep shock on the face of a gora tech rep when we "washed" a running engine in front of him by pumping a mixture of distilled water and some chemicals directly into the intake of a running engine. The process took 25 minutes to complete and he was in a great panic throughout and he tried to stop us many times. For us, it was merely a mundane procedure that we carried out regularly and as a matter of routine.
Our procedures were not even known to the Designer/manufacturer of the engine nor was anyone else interested in following our procedures which served us very well in safeguarding our engines.
The dazed gora tech rep later asked if he could have a copy of our "washing" procedure and it was willingly given to him.
Much later, I heard that some others in India also started "washing" their engines when earlier they had loudly laughed at us.
Engines with a high magnesium content tend to have corrosion and other abrasion problems, especially in an atmosphere like goa. Many many countries have similar or even more diverse airborne particulate and chemical issues in their atmospheres. P&W seems to be flying OK there or is it simply too expensive to talk of "special conditions", especially when lawyers also attend tech meetings in those countries??
These days magnesium is mostly out and/or other alloys have taken their place which are treated and show vastly improved performance in the presence of contaminants both particulate as well as chemical.
So when some joker from P&W condescendingly yaps about the "special conditions" in India, its pure, unadulterated BS and someone there thinks that he has bamboozled us dumb SDREs.
In some form or the other, such conditions obtain all over the world. and their piss poor new gen 321 engines are supposed to perform, notwithstanding, and if they do not, it can usually be traced back to a design issue.
There is enough shooklaw type paid media to carry fake news in every part of the world, especially when hired gora guns are hunting SDREs just to silence them.
Very interesting info. Thanks for sharing.
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