Images and videos depicting tape being used on planes have circulated on social media alongside suggestions of safety risks before.īut as Air New Zealand head of engineering Grant Crenfeldt explained in 2016, the tape used in aircraft repairs is actually 'FAA-approved speed tape'. 'Approved temporary repairs do not pose a safety risk to passengers.' 'Any repairs, including temporary tape repairs, must be made in accordance with approved maintenance instructions,' the spokesperson said in an email.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) told CheckMate it too was 'aware of paint peeling or being removed on some aircraft for various reasons'. Importantly, however, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has said it was aware of the paint peeling but would not be taking any action against the manufacturer as there was 'no indication that the paint and protection degradation affects the structure of the aircraft or introduces other risks'. Similar paint issues have also plagued aircraft manufacturer Airbus, whose A350 jets have been the subject of legal action by Qatar Airways. 'he peeling does not affect the structural integrity of the wing, and does not affect the safety of flight,' the spokesperson said.Īnd while the FAA document does warn of a potential paint-related safety risk to airline personnel when using 'vacuum-type fall arrest protection systems' on aircraft wings, it did not flag any risk to passenger safety. Recent news reports have suggested that peeling paint on the wings of Boeing 787-9 aircraft may be a widespread issue, with a spokeswoman for Air New Zealand telling online publication Stuff that it was a global problem.Ī spokesperson for Boeing, meanwhile, told aviation industry publication Simple Flying that the peeling paint was 'a cosmetic issue only'. They pointed CheckMate to a video of the wing of an Etihad-operated 787-9 to illustrate the similarities with the wing pictured in the Twitter post.Īs for why the wing was taped, the researchers alerted CheckMate to a 2020 document issued by the US Department of Transportation's Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).Īccording to the document, Boeing had notified the FAA that certain model 787 jets were 'prone to paint adhesion failures due to Ultra Violet (UV) ray damage'. ( Supplied)īut the tape pictured - known as speed tape - is used regularly in the aviation industry and, in this case, was likely applied to cover peeling paint.Īccording to researchers from the Information Futures Lab (formerly known as First Draft News), the plane pictured was most probably a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. The aviation industry regularly uses 'speed tape' on aircraft that have peeling paint. 'When choosing your favourite airline, choose wisely,' Mr Wakeham captioned his photo. The photo, which shows a plane wing covered in patches of what at first glance appears to be duct tape, was posted to Twitter last week by Australian opera singer David Wakeham and has since been shared widely on other social media platforms including Reddit and Facebook. Is Qantas patching up planes with duct tape?Ī viral photo appearing to show a Qantas plane with a heavily taped wing - which some online users suggested may have posed a safety risk - is not what it seems, CheckMate has found.

We also fact check Peter Dutton's defence spending claims, and pick apart much-hyped rumours of a Chinese military coup.

This week, CheckMate investigates whether Qantas passengers should be worried by online images of aeroplane wings plastered with tape. You can read the latest edition below, and subscribe to have the next newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. CheckMate is a weekly newsletter from RMIT FactLab which recaps the latest in the world of fact checking and misinformation, drawing on the work of FactLab and its sister organisation, RMIT ABC Fact Check.

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