Probably the most misunderstood thing in all of aviation is speed tape. Passengers see what looks like ‘duct tape’ on their plane, and they worry whether it will hold together. The plane doesn’t look safe and first impressions over safety matter right now with aviation safety top of mind given the issues we’ve seen with the Boeing 737 MAX 9 door plug, air traffic control mishaps, and pilot error over the past couple of years.
Photos like this one represent nervous passengers, and airlines making a poor impression, even though safety hasn’t been compromised. For 100 years aviation safety has been both a practice of continuous improvement, driving down risk, and of managing perceptions.
Has anyone seen anything like this before?
byu/KnownJackfruit8104 inairplanes
These sorts of images scare passengers, but this isn’t duct tape. It is actually aluminum pressure-sensitive tape that can stick to an aircraft’s fuselage or wing at high speeds.
It is used in aviation for minor, temporary repairs on aircraft. It has high resistance to weather conditions and extreme temperatures. And its use is strictly regulated. In general, it is for temporary fixes until a more permanent repair can be made, often within a few days.
The location and nature of the damage on an aircraft determines whether use of speed tape is appropriate, consistent with FAA guidelines and the aircraft manufacturer’s structural repair manual. Speed tape is not indicated where it could potentially affect the structural integrity of the aircraft (or cause an aerodynamic issue).
So you’ll generally see it used for minor, non-structural damage such as covering minor dents or scratches that don’t affect structural integrity and securing loose objects such as a panel until they can be properly fixed.
There’s nothing wrong with this plane, in the sense that it’s perfectly airworthy. But every time passengers see something like this they’re shaken, and they worry about how well managed and maintained the airline they’re flying is.
Here’s one that looks pretty bad on the ground in Albuquerque prior to boarding. The forward fuselage is the part of the aircraft’s body where the cockpit is located. It’s the plane’s “first impression” – and this one doesn’t make a very good one.
Pressure-sensitive tape dates to the 1840s, though of course the tape used later at the dawn of aviation (masking tape) wouldn’t be used on an aircraft. Duct tape was developed during World War Two. Technology has continued to evolve, but popular understanding of it – in aviation and beyond – often lags. It wouldn’t hurt for airline employees themselves to be better educated, so that they could proactively explain it to customers.
I realize that there is a lot of varied opinions about the correct name for the ubiquitous silver tape, including that it was originally called “duck” tape rather than “duct”. However, one thing is clear, whatever you call it, it is useless on ventilation ducts as the heat very quickly destroys the adhesive and time will shortly do the same leading to peel off. If you want to seal seams in ventilation ducts, buy something appropriate for it (and probably very similar to the speed tape shown the article above).
When used in the manner shown the pilot should be required to tell passengers what it is for. Just make it along side the other small talk comments they make during announcements.
Why would a pilot, who knows something about flying, take up a plane he knew to be unsafe? Airborne Karens/Kevins ought to stop using their high-school equivalency education to second guess people working on airplanes since they were eating tide pods.
I wonder if the large wing surface covered with speed tape is an authorized engineering usage. Just because smaller patches are authorized doesn’t mean large ones are also authorized.
That is one heck of a lot of speed tape! That can’t be cheap.
I agree the pilot should speak to the passengers regarding the taped wing. It would alay any doubts the passengers might have and would be professional of the flight crew..
Makes ya wonder why the work crews who work on planes aren’t fixing planes properly,but they choose to use some special ahesive tape to cover shotty work
Airlines resort to speed tape when they don’t do enough preventative maintenance.
I would have high tailed out of the aircraft with the taped wing – not because I didn’t believe in the tape’s ability to hold, but because it was literally, and figuratively, covering up far deeper maintenance problems and philosophies at the airline.
Scary
This guy sums it up pretty well. https://www.instagram.com/p/DBByKGzO0nP/
Speed tape (or Aviation Tape) is used temporarily in noncritical areas until the aircraft can be brought to a maintenance/repair organization (MRO) facility where the underlying issue can be permanently repaired.
The size of the “patch” and locations are allowed as per FAA ADs, manufacturer SBs, and regulations. There is no such thing as a “small” or “large patch”. It’s designed to cover the area of the issue AND THEN SOME. It’s nonstructural. Think of it as “temporary bondo” without a curing period.
It’s up to the pilot in command (PIC) to determine airworthiness, and if you’re taking pictures having sat in your seat after having been allowed to board, the aircraft is airworthy.
Echo Karen/Kevin comment.
I’m guessing that is a 787 with a South American registration. No way I would ride in any airplane with that much speed tape on the wing. As a Captain I would refuse the aircraft.
Such ignorance doesn’t warrant this attention
Speed tape is to be used for temporary MINOR repairs. The wing and cockpit pictures are definitely not minor. Having been an airline pilot for many, many years, I would not accept the aircraft with those repairs until assured by the manufacturer, in writing, that it is an approved temporary repair . . . unless I was leaving Kabul. Then anything that flies works.
People, its speed tape and it is to stop paint from chipping more once on fuselage.
Regardless of what the FAA will allow, any airline that would keep/put a plane in revenue service with these optics is one that no sane person should fly!!!
@TW, but that is just it OPTICS! Smart people care about how it is, not how it looks.