Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a study of the use of counterfeit parts in commercial and private aircraft with landing rights in the United Kingdom.
§ Mr. McLoughlinIt would be quite impracticable to investigate the service history of the thousands of aircraft which may land in the United Kingdom in order to study the possible use of counterfeit parts; it would be a gross intrusion into the responsibilities of the states of registry of the aircraft concerned; the industry is well aware of the problem and is taking effective steps to combat it; and the Civil Aviation Authority, which has the statutory responsibility for the regulation of civil aviation, is also aware of the problem.
Dr. ThomasTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what assessment he has made of the relationship between civil aircraft accidents in the United Kingdom, or over United Kingdom airspace, and the use of bogus or faulty replacement parts.
§ Mr. McLoughlinI understand from the safety data analysis unit of the Civil Aviation Authority, which has been keeping the relevant statistics since 1976, that there have been no accidents to public transport aircraft in any way related to unauthorised parts.
There have been seven accidents to private aircraft after which the investigation discovered unauthorised parts, but these were not directly the cause of the accidents. Three of the aircraft involved were light aeroplanes, three were microlight aeroplanes and one was a light helicopter.