no overnight checks equals no on time reliability

toroshark

Senior
Mar 12, 2003
266
295
The new AA maintenance program is doomed for failure and lost revenue. If Austin is any indication , I can only imagine the problems at the class 1 stations. 2 days in and 2 kickoff flight delays. Last night they assigned the new PS check on the previous no check a/c. The #2 main tire was at 120 psi. That required changing the #1 and #2. If that had been a no check A/C would have been 3 in 3 days. There is no telling how long the psi in the tire was that low because the plane had not had a check in 3 days. The pilots did not know what the pressure was because the guage was filthy and they could not possibly read it. It seems as though AA''s new motto is SAFETY BEGINS IN THE POCKETBOOK! The sad thing is it will end up costing more in the interim and the long run.
 
Some may say "big deal, a tire had low pressure" but this is a potentail disaster. We all remember the Concorde crash that resulted from a tire failure. That failure was attributed to FOD but that was not the only fatal accident caused by tire failure. On July 11, 1991 a fully loaded DC-8 crashed, killing 261 people. The cause of the crash was that a tire was not properly inflated. This caused its paired tire to fail which then caught fire in the wheel well. The aircraft fell apart in mid air.

Maint was aware of the fact that the tire was leaking but the manager insisted on an on time departure. Needless to say he should have put more importance on an arrival.
 
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On 5/22/2003 5:51:33 PM toroshark wrote:

The new AA maintenance program is doomed for failure and lost revenue. If Austin is any indication , I can only imagine the problems at the class 1 stations. 2 days in and 2 kickoff flight delays. Last night they assigned the new PS check on the previous no check a/c. The #2 main tire was at 120 psi. That required changing the #1 and #2. If that had been a no check A/C would have been 3 in 3 days. There is no telling how long the psi in the tire was that low because the plane had not had a check in 3 days. The pilots did not know what the pressure was because the guage was filthy and they could not possibly read it. It seems as though AA''s new motto is " SAFETY BEGINS IN THE POCKETBOOK!" The sad thing is it will end up costing more in the interim and the long run.

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Lets not make mountains out of molehills! Every other airline is on this maint plan not to mention all AA''s other fleet types are on it as well. Over time I''m sure they''ll work the kinks out of it.
 
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On 5/23/2003 5:44:51 PM AAmech wrote:




Lets not make mountains out of molehills! Every other airline is on this maint plan not to mention all AA''s other fleet types are on it as well. Over time I''m sure they''ll work the kinks out of it.

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Years ago the pilots used to do both a pre and post flight walk around.

They eliminated the post flight walk around but the aircraft would be checked by mechanics if at a maint station.

Pilots know which stations are maint stations.

Have the pilots been informed that there has been a radical change in maint proceedures? Not just the APA but each individual pilot?

This action by the company lowers standards and narrows the margin of safety that was provided under the old program. Any other interpretation is a lie. The more often something gets looked at by different people the less likely that something will be missed. The fact that signed for actions have been eliminated increases the likelyhood that discrepancies will continue unnoticed. Many of these items, left unchecked and uncorrected could seriously compromise the safety of flight.​