A warning to airlines
BY INA PAIVA CORDLE
The Federal Aviation Administration is not giving sufficient oversight to aircraft-repair stations as their share of airlines' maintenance work increases -- suggesting that the system's safety net is vulnerable -- says a federal audit released Thursday.
After a 16-month investigation, the Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General uncovered problems at 18 -- or 86 percent -- of 21 repair stations reviewed.
Among the weaknesses: Mechanics used the wrong aircraft parts, outdated maintenance manuals and improperly adjusted tools and equipment. Three of the repair stations reviewed are in Miami, nine others are scattered around the United States, and nine are in foreign countries. The report, though, doesn't list individual stations' strengths or shortcomings.
Seven years after the ValuJet crash shone a harsh light on the use of outsourced maintenance facilities, airlines have stepped up their reliance on repair stations to between 33 percent and 79 percent of their total aircraft maintenance expense, the report showed.
Despite the increase in outsourcing, the FAA concentrates its oversight of airline maintenance on work performed at the major carriers' in-house facilities, the study found. In fact, the FAA has yet to act on the National Transportation Safety Board's recommendation -- issued following its investigation of the ValuJet crash -- that the agency pay equal attention to maintenance whether its done by in-house maintenance shops or repair stations.
'While these recommendations were made over six years ago, we found that the same weaknesses in repair-station oversight prevail today,' the report said.
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen, however, said no data indicated that the situation posed safety problems.
The audit was concentrated on a small sample of the 4,600 domestic and 650 foreign FAA-certified repair stations. According to the FAA, about 1,742 aircraft inspectors oversee these facilities, the report said.
The 21 repair stations audited were chosen for their geographical distribution and variety of size and type of work performed, said David Barnes, spokesman for the Office of the Inspector General.
The three Miami repair stations included in the audit are Avborne Heavy Maintenance, AAR Landing Gear Services and Air Operations International.
Barnes declined to comment on the individual results of the repair stations.
'We have oversight over the FAA, and our job is to make sure the FAA is doing its job,' he said.
Representatives of the Miami stations said they were in full compliance with the FAA.
'Our reliability rate and quality standards are one of the highest in the industry,' said Carolina Jones, vice president of marketing for Avborne Heavy Maintenance, whose customers include AirTran (the former ValuJet), United Parcel Service and Airborne Express.
'We're in good standing with the FAA,' said Alex Aladro, manager of quality assurance for AAR Landing Gear Services, which has done work for Southwest, American, United, Delta and other airlines.
'Our company is in perfect compliance with all FAA regulations,' said Air Operations International Vice President Elias RodrÃguez, who declined to disclose the names of his airline clients.
The investigation was the first by the OIG on repair stations since 1994. Since then, air carriers have increased their reliance on outsourced maintenance to cut back on expenses, the report found. In 1996, major air carriers spent $1.5 billion -- 37 percent of their total maintenance costs -- for outsourced aircraft maintenance. In 2002, the major carriers outsourced $2.5 billion, or 47 percent of their total maintenance costs.
American Airlines, for example, outsourced 38 percent of its maintenance expense, or $465.2 million, last year, but nearly half of that went to a joint venture between American and Rolls-Royce. The airline has strict auditing of outside vendors, spokesman John Hotard said.
'If we can be competitive, we prefer to do it in house,' he said.
The OIG's audit revealed that at seven foreign and eight domestic repair stations -- or 71 percent -- mechanics used the wrong parts or parts that could not be traced to their manufacturers and equipment as well as tools not properly calibrated.
'These discrepancies went undetected by FAA surveillance because of the weaknesses in FAA's oversight structure and the process FAA inspectors used during repair station inspections,' the report noted.
In its report on the ValuJet crash, the NTSB had cited the FAA's lack of oversight of the airline and ValuJet's failure to oversee its maintenance contractor, SabreTech, which is no longer in business. SabreTech employees in Miami failed to properly prepare and package volatile oxygen generators, which ignited the fire that consumed the DC-9, killing all 110 aboard, the board found.
'The entire system that is there to protect the public failed,' former NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said at the time. ``The ValuJet accident resulted from failures up and down the line, from federal regulators to airline executives, from the boardroom to workers on the shop-room floor.'
Since 1996, three other tragedies -- a Continental Express crash in 1998, a Continental Airlines crash in 1998 and an Emery Worldwide crash in 2000 -- have been linked to aircraft-repair stations.
The audit further reveals that the FAA is often unable to determine whether repair stations in France, Germany and Ireland meet FAA standards. The FAA has agreements with civil aviation authorities in those countries to inspect and certify the 138 repair stations there on its behalf.
While saying the sample size may have been too small to draw conclusions, the FAA agreed to revamp its procedures.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/6277089.htm
BY INA PAIVA CORDLE
The Federal Aviation Administration is not giving sufficient oversight to aircraft-repair stations as their share of airlines' maintenance work increases -- suggesting that the system's safety net is vulnerable -- says a federal audit released Thursday.
After a 16-month investigation, the Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General uncovered problems at 18 -- or 86 percent -- of 21 repair stations reviewed.
Among the weaknesses: Mechanics used the wrong aircraft parts, outdated maintenance manuals and improperly adjusted tools and equipment. Three of the repair stations reviewed are in Miami, nine others are scattered around the United States, and nine are in foreign countries. The report, though, doesn't list individual stations' strengths or shortcomings.
Seven years after the ValuJet crash shone a harsh light on the use of outsourced maintenance facilities, airlines have stepped up their reliance on repair stations to between 33 percent and 79 percent of their total aircraft maintenance expense, the report showed.
Despite the increase in outsourcing, the FAA concentrates its oversight of airline maintenance on work performed at the major carriers' in-house facilities, the study found. In fact, the FAA has yet to act on the National Transportation Safety Board's recommendation -- issued following its investigation of the ValuJet crash -- that the agency pay equal attention to maintenance whether its done by in-house maintenance shops or repair stations.
'While these recommendations were made over six years ago, we found that the same weaknesses in repair-station oversight prevail today,' the report said.
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen, however, said no data indicated that the situation posed safety problems.
The audit was concentrated on a small sample of the 4,600 domestic and 650 foreign FAA-certified repair stations. According to the FAA, about 1,742 aircraft inspectors oversee these facilities, the report said.
The 21 repair stations audited were chosen for their geographical distribution and variety of size and type of work performed, said David Barnes, spokesman for the Office of the Inspector General.
The three Miami repair stations included in the audit are Avborne Heavy Maintenance, AAR Landing Gear Services and Air Operations International.
Barnes declined to comment on the individual results of the repair stations.
'We have oversight over the FAA, and our job is to make sure the FAA is doing its job,' he said.
Representatives of the Miami stations said they were in full compliance with the FAA.
'Our reliability rate and quality standards are one of the highest in the industry,' said Carolina Jones, vice president of marketing for Avborne Heavy Maintenance, whose customers include AirTran (the former ValuJet), United Parcel Service and Airborne Express.
'We're in good standing with the FAA,' said Alex Aladro, manager of quality assurance for AAR Landing Gear Services, which has done work for Southwest, American, United, Delta and other airlines.
'Our company is in perfect compliance with all FAA regulations,' said Air Operations International Vice President Elias RodrÃguez, who declined to disclose the names of his airline clients.
The investigation was the first by the OIG on repair stations since 1994. Since then, air carriers have increased their reliance on outsourced maintenance to cut back on expenses, the report found. In 1996, major air carriers spent $1.5 billion -- 37 percent of their total maintenance costs -- for outsourced aircraft maintenance. In 2002, the major carriers outsourced $2.5 billion, or 47 percent of their total maintenance costs.
American Airlines, for example, outsourced 38 percent of its maintenance expense, or $465.2 million, last year, but nearly half of that went to a joint venture between American and Rolls-Royce. The airline has strict auditing of outside vendors, spokesman John Hotard said.
'If we can be competitive, we prefer to do it in house,' he said.
The OIG's audit revealed that at seven foreign and eight domestic repair stations -- or 71 percent -- mechanics used the wrong parts or parts that could not be traced to their manufacturers and equipment as well as tools not properly calibrated.
'These discrepancies went undetected by FAA surveillance because of the weaknesses in FAA's oversight structure and the process FAA inspectors used during repair station inspections,' the report noted.
In its report on the ValuJet crash, the NTSB had cited the FAA's lack of oversight of the airline and ValuJet's failure to oversee its maintenance contractor, SabreTech, which is no longer in business. SabreTech employees in Miami failed to properly prepare and package volatile oxygen generators, which ignited the fire that consumed the DC-9, killing all 110 aboard, the board found.
'The entire system that is there to protect the public failed,' former NTSB Chairman Jim Hall said at the time. ``The ValuJet accident resulted from failures up and down the line, from federal regulators to airline executives, from the boardroom to workers on the shop-room floor.'
Since 1996, three other tragedies -- a Continental Express crash in 1998, a Continental Airlines crash in 1998 and an Emery Worldwide crash in 2000 -- have been linked to aircraft-repair stations.
The audit further reveals that the FAA is often unable to determine whether repair stations in France, Germany and Ireland meet FAA standards. The FAA has agreements with civil aviation authorities in those countries to inspect and certify the 138 repair stations there on its behalf.
While saying the sample size may have been too small to draw conclusions, the FAA agreed to revamp its procedures.
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/6277089.htm