South Africa Grounds Airliner After Dropped Engine

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa --

South Africa's Civil Aviation Authority has stopped the flights of a domestic airliner after one of its planes dropped an engine on takeoff, and the grounding affected 6,000 passengers at the start of the country's summer holidays on Friday.

A Boeing 737-200 operated by the airline, Nationwide, lost an engine in mid-November as it took off from Cape Town's airport. The aviation authority indefinitely suspended its approval of the airline's maintenance operations from midnight on Thursday, the authority's chief executive officer Zakes Myeza said Friday. The authority also indefinitely suspended the certificates of airworthiness of Nationwide's fleet - 11 737-200s; three 727-200s; one 767-300 and one 737-500.

The authority said Nationwide failed to implement three airworthiness directives issued in response to the lost engine incident. These included requirements issued by the manufacturer after four similar incidents in the United States that called for, among other steps, the refitting of engine mounting bolts and the overhauling of certain other components.

While the aviation authority did not say whether pirate parts on Nationwide aircraft, it did say it found that the bolts fitted were "untraceable."

Civil Aviation Authority chief executive officer Myeza also said the airline had failed to comply with an airworthiness directorate issued in September and subsequent audits of its compliance.

Nationwide had no immediate comment on the problems cited by the authority, and the company's sales and marketing manager Charmaine Thome said it would appeal the grounding. In a statement on its Web site, its chief executive officer Vernon Bricknell said Nationwide had approached the authority for "further details and guidance in respect of any actions they would like us to implement."

The authority said Nationwide would have to prove compliance and the airworthiness of each aircraft before the suspension was lifted. If it fails, its license could be revoked altogether.

Some 6,000 passengers were affected when Nationwide canceled 60 flights Friday, including one to London and two to Livingstone, Zambia, Thome told the South African Press Association.

She said Nationwide was offering full refunds to passengers unable to get alternative transport. It was also offering to fly them later.

There were scenes of confusion at airports throughout the country, with passengers complaining about lack of information from Nationwide.