Small Bogus Part Posed Large Danger

A United Airlines mechanic was doing a routine overhaul on a jet engine when he noticed something funny about a small but important part, a 4 1/2-inch spacer bearing.

Its edges were rough, its color not quite right. It was counterfeit.

Alerted by United, the Federal Aviation Administration ordered all airlines with Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines--14,000 are in service on Boeing 727s and 737s and McDonnell-Douglas DC-9s and MD-80s--to check for bogus parts.

The result: 14 U.S. airlines and two foreign carriers turned in 130 suspect spacer bearings and more than 1,000 other suspected unapproved parts, the Department of Transportation says.

The case, which occurred in 1991, illustrates the dangers of bogus parts.

The spacer bearing protects the JT8D’s oil and crucial components from 900-degree engine gases. If it fails, the engine fails.

FAA regulations call for the bearing, which Pratt & Whitney, the only approved manufacturer, makes with an expensive nickel alloy, to be replaced every 20,000 flight hours. The knockoff the United mechanic discovered was steel and would have disintegrated after fewer than 600 flight hours.

The bearing was traced to a New York parts broker, Gary Shafer, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud in the case and spent seven months in prison.

Investigators believe Shafer got the bogus bearing from Joe Ferlatt, a Canadian suspected of perhaps the biggest aircraft parts counterfeiting scam on record. Ferlatt made the bearings for $40 each. How many is not known.

Ferlatt began producing bogus replacement parts for the JT8D in the late 1980s. Pursued by a private detective after fleeing his native Montreal, the ex-mechanic killed himself in February 1990 in Parrish, Fla.

He drank a bottle of whiskey, taped a plastic bag over his head and died of asphyxiation. In a suicide note, he said he could no longer go on “living looking over my shoulder.”

Police officers who specialize in bogus parts say the risk is relatively low for criminals because not enough judges understand the danger the trade poses. With plea bargains, the criminals generally face a maximum of two years in prison. Often as not, they get probation.

“The mentality is that it’s a white-collar crime,” said Det. Luis Vergara of the Metro-Dade Police Department. “But you’re looking at attempted murder. There is complete disregard for the lives of the individuals who are flying in these aircraft.”