UK grounds spy planes for fuel pipe checks

LONDON, Feb 23 (Reuters) Britain grounded its fleet of Nimrod MR2 spy planes for checks today after finding a dent on the fuel pipe of one of the aircrafts, the ministry of defence said.

Some of the planes, grounded after a routine check on Feb.

21 on a Nimrod MR2 operating out of RAF Kinloss in the north of Scotland, were later cleared after inspections.

"As a precautionary measure the fleet was grounded while the issue was investigated," the MOD said. "These investigations are ongoing, but some of the aircraft have been cleared of this problem and we expect others to follow shortly." A ministry spokeswoman could not immediately say how many aircraft were in the MR2 fleet.

The grounding was only temporary and was not linked to an inquiry into the crash of a British Nimrod MR2 in Afghanistan last September which killed all 14 crew, the ministry said.

The crash of Nimrod XV230 was the fifth involving the MR2, which are manufactured by BAE Systems .

Two previous Nimrod MR2 crashes have been blamed on onboard fires and the pilot of the plane that crashed in Afghanistan had also reported a fire on board.

The grounding "was taken as a precautionary measure and should not be construed as pre-judging the findings of the Board of Inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the loss of XV230," the MoD said in a statement.

REUTERS SAM HT2340