Posted on Mon, Feb. 23, 2004
Airline ends outsourced repairs
Year after crash, company wants oversight
The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The commuter airline whose plane crashed on takeoff 13 months ago in Charlotte, killing all 21 aboard, will stop outsourcing routine maintenance on its aircraft.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators think mechanics in Huntington, W.Va., working under contract for Air Midwest made mistakes that contributed to the deadly crash. Under federal regulations, Air Midwest was responsible for the outsourced maintenance on US Airways Express Flight 5481, which crashed Jan. 8, 2003.
"After an accident like that, you reassess," said Jonathan Ornstein, chief executive of Air Midwest's parent company, Mesa Air Group. Bringing maintenance back in-house is cost-effective and provides the airline more direct control, he said.
Within months, the airline will again do all of its own routine, overnight maintenance, an airline spokesman said. A contractor will continue to do heavy structural repairs, which typically take planes out of service for 10 to 15 days.
The NTSB will present its conclusions Thursday in Washington about what caused the crash. The board likely will focus on maintenance and the plane's weight and balance.
Since 2000, when Air Midwest began outsourcing much of its maintenance, the airline had more reported maintenance and mechanical problems than many airlines its size, The Charlotte Observer reported Sunday.
Air Midwest, based in Wichita, Kan., said it has been aggressive about identifying problems and reporting them to the FAA. Federal regulations allow for different interpretations of what should be reported, and the airline's policy is to disclose even minor problems, airline spokesmen said.
"Air Midwest disputes that any negative inferences can be drawn from events disclosed to the FAA given the fact that Air Midwest has adopted internal procedures favoring disclosure regardless of how minor an incident might have been," the airline said in a statement to The Observer.
Air Midwest said a number of proposed enforcement actions were either withdrawn by the FAA or resolved with no finding of violation. The airline also noted that until 2003, it had operated more than 6 million flights without a crash.
Some FAA inspectors question whether a proactive reporting approach would fully explain the number of incidents involving Air Midwest. Grant Pearsoll, an FAA inspector in Salt Lake City who serves as an official with the inspectors' union, said such a high number of incidents "would be a flag for me."
A spokesman for Trans States Airlines said he thinks most midsize regional airlines like his are conscientious about reporting incidents to the FAA. Trans States, based in St. Louis, Mo., carries more than twice as many passengers as Air Midwest each year.
Fewer than 40 FAA incidents involving Trans States were reported from 2000 to mid-2003.
Air Midwest, which operates under contract with larger airlines, including US Airways, did its own maintenance from its inception in 1965 until 2000. In February 2000, the airline won the FAA's highest maintenance training honor.
Air Midwest hired a contractor to help maintain its Beech 1900 turboprops as it took over new East Coast routes in 2000.
The next year, the airline contracted with Raytheon Aerospace, a corporation partly owned by the parent company of Raytheon Aircraft, which manufactured the Beech 1900. Mesa thought Raytheon would provide excellent service, Ornstein said.
"It's like bringing your car to the dealer for maintenance," Ornstein said. "It wasn't like we went to some corner garage."
Full Story!
Airline ends outsourced repairs
Year after crash, company wants oversight
The Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The commuter airline whose plane crashed on takeoff 13 months ago in Charlotte, killing all 21 aboard, will stop outsourcing routine maintenance on its aircraft.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators think mechanics in Huntington, W.Va., working under contract for Air Midwest made mistakes that contributed to the deadly crash. Under federal regulations, Air Midwest was responsible for the outsourced maintenance on US Airways Express Flight 5481, which crashed Jan. 8, 2003.
"After an accident like that, you reassess," said Jonathan Ornstein, chief executive of Air Midwest's parent company, Mesa Air Group. Bringing maintenance back in-house is cost-effective and provides the airline more direct control, he said.
Within months, the airline will again do all of its own routine, overnight maintenance, an airline spokesman said. A contractor will continue to do heavy structural repairs, which typically take planes out of service for 10 to 15 days.
The NTSB will present its conclusions Thursday in Washington about what caused the crash. The board likely will focus on maintenance and the plane's weight and balance.
Since 2000, when Air Midwest began outsourcing much of its maintenance, the airline had more reported maintenance and mechanical problems than many airlines its size, The Charlotte Observer reported Sunday.
Air Midwest, based in Wichita, Kan., said it has been aggressive about identifying problems and reporting them to the FAA. Federal regulations allow for different interpretations of what should be reported, and the airline's policy is to disclose even minor problems, airline spokesmen said.
"Air Midwest disputes that any negative inferences can be drawn from events disclosed to the FAA given the fact that Air Midwest has adopted internal procedures favoring disclosure regardless of how minor an incident might have been," the airline said in a statement to The Observer.
Air Midwest said a number of proposed enforcement actions were either withdrawn by the FAA or resolved with no finding of violation. The airline also noted that until 2003, it had operated more than 6 million flights without a crash.
Some FAA inspectors question whether a proactive reporting approach would fully explain the number of incidents involving Air Midwest. Grant Pearsoll, an FAA inspector in Salt Lake City who serves as an official with the inspectors' union, said such a high number of incidents "would be a flag for me."
A spokesman for Trans States Airlines said he thinks most midsize regional airlines like his are conscientious about reporting incidents to the FAA. Trans States, based in St. Louis, Mo., carries more than twice as many passengers as Air Midwest each year.
Fewer than 40 FAA incidents involving Trans States were reported from 2000 to mid-2003.
Air Midwest, which operates under contract with larger airlines, including US Airways, did its own maintenance from its inception in 1965 until 2000. In February 2000, the airline won the FAA's highest maintenance training honor.
Air Midwest hired a contractor to help maintain its Beech 1900 turboprops as it took over new East Coast routes in 2000.
The next year, the airline contracted with Raytheon Aerospace, a corporation partly owned by the parent company of Raytheon Aircraft, which manufactured the Beech 1900. Mesa thought Raytheon would provide excellent service, Ornstein said.
"It's like bringing your car to the dealer for maintenance," Ornstein said. "It wasn't like we went to some corner garage."
Full Story!
