TOULOUSE—Airbus is testing a permanent solution to the power gearbox (PGB) problems that held up deliveries and affected flight operations of the A400M airlifter last year.                                                                       
The company is working with Europrop International (EPI), the supplier of the TP400 turboprop engine that powers the aircraft, on what it calls the Pack 2 enhancement to the PGB. Pack 2 is currently being ground-tested and should be certified later this year. It could be implemented on production aircraft toward year’s end, Airbus’ head of military aircraft, Fernando Alonso, told journalists here June 9.
The company is hoping the Pack 2 development will draw a line under issues that dogged deliveries of the airlifter last year. An input pinion plug within the PGB of the clockwise turning engines of the aircraft was found to be cracking, and there was concern that cracks propagated by the component could release metallic spalls into the oil system. As a result, a series of regular checks was mandated that affected flight operations.
An interim solution reduced the frequency of these checks to once every 600 hr., and with Pack 2 this will be reduced even further.
“The problem is mostly behind us. We are seeing the airplanes flying more regularly,” Alonso said