FAA proposes fines against US Airways and United Airlines

[Zef]

The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) of the United States proposed a fine of 5.4 million US$ against US Airways for operating eight aircraft not in compliance with Airworthiness Directives (AD) or in violation of maintenance procedures on 1647 flights and a fine of 3.8 million US$ against United Airlines for violating maintenance procedures on one Boeing 737.

The FAA alleges, that US Airways:

- operated one of their Embraer ERJ-190s on 19 flights, although the airplane was not in compliance with an AD requiring an inspection to prevent a cargo door to open in flight
- operated one of their Airbus A320s on 26 flights, although the airplane was not in compliance with an AD requiring an inspection of the landing gear for possible cracks
- operated another A320 on 17 flights without inspection required by the same AD
- flew a third Airbus A320 on 855 flights although the airplane did not meet maintenance requirements for engine repair
- flew a Boeing 757 on 505 flights although inspections related to engine work were missed in violation of maintenance policies and procedures manual
- flew another Boeing 757 on 121 flights without proper maintenance
- flew a Boeing 767 on 53 flights without the mandatory weekly inspection
- flew another Boeing 767 on 51 flights without inspections, tests and sampling required by maintenance program

The FAA alleges, that United Airlines flew a Boeing 737 in not an airworthy condition for more than 200 flights with two shop towels in the engine's oil sump area instead of required protective caps until an inflight shut down of the engine became necessary due to loss of oil pressure.
Incredible....shop towels that replace an oil cap...!

[island911]

Shouldn't this be in PARF?

[bell]

I don't think it's parf......
Personally I'm glad someone posted this......makes you want to inspect the jet you fly on personally.......

[island911]

Originally Posted by bell

I don't think it's parf......
Personally I'm glad someone posted this......makes you want to inspect the jet you fly on personally.......

But it's not talking about the weather or needle-point! ...and "Federal Aviation Authority "--sounds political to me.

[bell]

You forgot the green text

If the thread was titled "FAA screws us again" and then rambled on as to how screwed up the gov then yes it would goto parf......
But no, this points out negligance of a couple airlines having to do with flying passengers safety......the faa has guidelines which are in place due to previous accidents, faliures or whatever for a reason......am I pro-faa? I don't really know, but if mantaince schedules were skipped and a jet I was flying on had rags for oil caps which cause engine trouble then I'd surely be pissed...

Still not parf

[island911]

Originally Posted by bell

You forgot the green text ...

mmmmMaybe....

[cashflyer]

I thought union mechanics were the best that money could buy.

[Scuba Steve]

I thought they had farmed this kind of maintenance out to 3rd world countries?

[ErVikingo]

and I fly over 200K miles per year.......

How do they get away with this kind of stuff? I gather that it must reported on some maintenance paperwork if not how did the FAA find out?

I'm sure that a pilot would not take off knowing this.

[Seahawk]

They gun-decked the paper work, period.

I was a maintenance test pilot in my first squadron (and the second, etc.). It was my job to make sure that all maintenance actions had been done, the paper work complete and then I would go out and fly a series of proscribed maneuvers with the aircraft depending on the maintenance, scheduled or unscheduled, performed.

Really thorough pre-flights are required, even when the maintenance staff is top flight. On my second cruise I was the Det maintenance officer and I had the absolute best maintenance Senior Chief in the Navy. I trusted that man, would still depend on him with my life.

We were in the Indian Ocean, very calm, nice day; no sea state, early afternoon, big sun.

We had just completed a "Phase Maintenance" on one of our two H-60's, D Phase, the big one. We rolled it out of the frigates hanger for the flight. Senior Chief was ribbing me about my pre-flight: "burning daylight, LT Snipe Hunt, etc." Det life for an aviation detachment on a small boy gets very close, we were and are buddies.

I'm poking through the main rotor head of the 60, a very busy place filled with pitch change horns, bi-filar absorbers, anti-ice wiring, the works.

I really couldn't believe my eyes: There, below the bi-filar, is a hack saw! Had I started and turned up the head, bad things could have happend.

Tool control is life in aviation maintenance, which is why the shop towels in the oil filler cap is so egregious to me.

I couldn't resist...from the top of the helo I looked down one of the best, really smart maintenance chiefs in the Navy, held up the hack saw and ask, "Senior, is this thing flight worthy?"

The look on his face remains one of my favorite moments.

He immediately called an enlisted only in the hangar, delayed the maintenance hop for an hour and poured over the aircraft.

I did not do a second pre-flight before I launched. Flight went perfect.

The reason I relayed the above is that great aircraft maintenance is a culture, a very precise dance. Mistakes can be make, but the type of systemic errors from the OP says to me I'll have to question UA and US Airways culture, and whether I fly with them again.

Originally Posted by ErVikingo

How do they get away with this kind of stuff? I gather that it must reported on some maintenance paperwork if not how did the FAA find out?

I'm sure that a pilot would not take off knowing this.

[Zef]

Originally Posted by island911

But it's not talking about the weather or needle-point! ...and "Federal Aviation Authority "--sounds political to me.

Sound safety to me. Traveling peoples should know about this crap.

[bell]

Seahawk.....that was a most excellent post

[fingpilot]

I'm sure everyone has one or two of those Seahawk 'moments'.

Mine involved being rushed deadhead across the country red eye to an aircraft ready to depart NYC to Europe, somehow I was the closest current captain, and I was in Los Angeles. I ASSumed I was going to the hotel in Newark for required rest prior to flying. Nope. (You didn't sleep on the red-eye???).

Strike one.

Show up at the gate same time as the F/O. He's older than me by 10 years... hmmmm. He takes the outside preflight, I take the cockpit. Cleared to start the APU, and start the cockpit checks. Alternate pressurization controller fails it's check. Weirdly. Check the #2 AirData computer for valid inputs to controller. Surprise, it's dead. Big Red X's on 3 display tubes, and all ADC data screens in F/O's FMS computer are red and blank. He enters cockpit and actually says 'Oh I see you found my red boxes......'

Strike 2.

I pull the logbook. Usually, maintenence has pulled all back logsheets every time a plane gets to a base. Makes it tough to see what writeups have been followed up on, and who wrote them, that sort of thing. This logbook has like 3 weeks of back sheets.

This airplane has crossed the Atlantic 11 times in 3 weeks with only one AirDataComputer. Two are required, and several cross checks are required both ground and airbourne prior to going feet wet, and a confidence cross check with ground stations feet dry at other end. All required to be submitted with post flight paperwork. This F/O had been on all these flights. He admitted the falsifications......he needed the job, and had been directed by the previous captains to do it that way.

Strike 3.

I get my hat, coat, and logbook, and find a copy machine. Return the logbook, stash he copies in my briefcase, and call OPS. They plead ignorance. Chief Pilot and DirOps catch me on phone as I check into hotel, trying to get me to 'be reasonable, and take the flight'.

By the time I woke up, plane had been pulled, logbook had been 'fixed', and flight rescheduled. I called my FAA OpsInspector, and met for coffee. He got the copies, and kept them until the trials.

Took two years, whistleblower status, and over 40 citations (several $mil$ fines), before airline was shut down. Turns out it was the culture. They had gotten away with it, right under everyone's noses, as long as the paperwork was OK.

I suspect as times have gotten tough, it's still going on, more than ever.

[jyl]

That's a heck of a story, told by a heck of a man.