11 cents

[Abilene Slim SASS 81783]

According to the Wall Street Journal, the faulty o-rings that grounded the entire CH-47 fleet weren’t really faulty. But they had apparently been given the wrong part number and weren’t meant for that application. An 11-cent part grounded around 400 Chinooks until they sort things out. 

With the millions of parts that have to be catalogued and inventoried, I’m kinda surprised this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. Or maybe it does and we just don’t hear about it. Glad they found the problem so soon. Whew!

[Badlands Bob #61228]

Some 18 year old clerk in a cubicle somewhere made a decision some time in the past and it eventually blew up into grounding the whole fleet of CH-47's. Yep, all 400 of them, world wide.  Somebody's going to have a great story to tell their grandchildren.

[J.D. Daily]

22 hours ago, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

According to the Wall Street Journal, the faulty o-rings that grounded the entire CH-47 fleet weren’t really faulty. But they had apparently been given the wrong part number and weren’t meant for that application. An 11-cent part grounded around 400 Chinooks until they sort things out. 

With the millions of parts that have to be catalogued and inventoried, I’m kinda surprised this sort of thing doesn’t happen more often. Or maybe it does and we just don’t hear about it. Glad they found the problem so soon. Whew!

I am sure the 11 cent part cost a lot more than 11 cents for Uncle Sugar to procure.  I remember back in 1977 a gallon of epoxy resin for making the dish antenna/bus. for the Voyager deep space probes cost $100.  The seat for the P3 's toilet cost the Navy $2500.