Russia To Start Making Bootleg Boeing, Airbus Parts

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As Russia’s world narrows with sweeping sanctions, it’s about to take the inevitable step of making about 100 state-of-the-art Airbus and Boeing airliners virtually worthless. The state aviation authority Rosaviatsia has issued production certificates to five Russian companies to start making bootleg parts for the aircraft and more are expected to be approved shortly according to aviacononline. So far, the parts approved are cabin items like seats and galley equipment but even the installation of an unapproved seat can cancel the airworthiness certificate of an aircraft in the rest of the world.

The website says it’s just a matter of time before flight-critical components will need replacement and the few countries still willing to sell certified parts run out of spares. China has refused to sell parts to Russia, leaving India and Turkey as the main potential sources. As the maintenance needs of the complex jets grow, the loss of traceability of parts will render them unflyable anywhere but Russia and the leasing companies (and their insurers) will be left holding the bag.

Russ Niles
Russ Niles is Editor-in-Chief of AVweb. He has been a pilot for 30 years and joined AVweb 22 years ago. He and his wife Marni live in southern British Columbia where they also operate a small winery.

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12 COMMENTS

  1. Some things never change……..is China really banning Boeing parts to Russia (the biggest parts reverse engineering country on the planet)? Yea right.

  2. And once again, totalitarianism begets anarchy.

    With apologies to the Talking Heads, “Same as it ever was.”

  3. Cue the outrage. This? From a nation that bootlegged B-29s and C-47s? Who knew? How dare they?

  4. We’ve been bootlegging used Boeing and Airbus parts for years. Just stick a new yellow tag on it and voila!

  5. Dunno that I’d call Russian parts “bootleg”. “COUNTERFEIT” is a far more accurate descriptor.

    Who knows how the QA/QC on these parts will go? If Chinese counterfeit parts and their flawed metallurgy are an indicator, it’s caveat emptor for any who use ’em. I have absolutely no doubt these things will show up on the black markets of Asia, Africa, and South America, nor that they’ll find their way into the N. American and European supply chains. It’s a simple matter to create a fraudulent paper trail.

  6. I’m sure that all of the OEMs will agree with you that PMA parts are counterfeit and should never be allowed.

    I’m not supportive of Russia, but maybe a little less hysteria around this is warranted.

  7. Certainly have to know what you are doing and care.

    An EE told a story that when a group was visiting China decades ago one person got him aside and sought advice on a particular oscilloscope they were having problems with. “Of all the American ones you could have copied that is the worst design.”

    And remember Lucky Goldstar out of South Korea, its descendant is LG appliance company – Koreans learned.

    And further back, Japan Junk – early post-war production was not great, but they are good learners (with help from Americans on quality and efficiency).

    Aviation story: customers of a certain well-known airplane company complained about reliability of the tiny incandescent light bulbs of the 60s. Investigation showed that packages marked Made in USA were from a town in Japan, which had the name Usa from far earlier.

    (Light bulbs were a problem anyway. For aviation they were supposed to be burned in then selected to be within

  8. Certainly have to know what you are doing and care.

    An EE told a story that when a group was visiting China decades ago one person got him aside and sought advice on a particular oscilloscope they were having problems with. “Of all the American ones you could have copied that is the worst design.”

    And remember Lucky Goldstar out of South Korea, its descendant is LG appliance company – Koreans learned.

    And further back, Japan Junk – early post-war production was not great, but they are good learners when motivated (with help from Americans on quality and efficiency).

    • Aviation story: customers of a certain well-known airplane company complained about reliability of the tiny incandescent light bulbs of the 60s. Investigation showed that packages marked Made in USA were from a town in Japan, which had the name Usa from far earlier.

      (Light bulbs were a problem anyway. For aviation they were supposed to be burned in then selected to be within 15% of specified brightness. Purchase product not assured to be AS15 and you got the rejects from that selection.

      Similarly, bearings for aviation products were often selected based on vibration when rolling them slowly, buy some without X suffix and you’d get the rejects with shorter life.)

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