Not sure if this thread is a respost , but it's worth reading about the companies who wear our colors and represent US to the public.
'Sloppy' maintenance blamed in Air Midwest crash.
Reuters
ACCIDENT DETAILS - AirDisaster.Com Accident Database
The wreckage of an Air Midwest Beechcraft 1900 airliner is seen in this January, 2002 file photo. (File Photo/AirDisaster.Com)
WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Sloppy maintenance and inadequate procedures for calculating and distributing weight led to the crash of an Air Midwest plane in North Carolina that killed 21 people last year, investigators said on Thursday.
In a sharply critical report, the National Transportation Safety Board found that missteps by a maintenance contractor were made worse by Air Midwest's use of inadequate weight and balance standards, which left the Beech 1900D turboprop overweight and tail heavy.
"There were a lot of mistakes made here," said Mark Rosenker, the vice chairman of the safety board. "I'll call it sloppy."
John Goglia, a senior board member and former mechanic, called the lapses worse than those leading to the 1996 ValuJet crash in Florida. "This accident, with the sheer number of people who failed to do their job, set a new low," he said.
Brian Gillman, a spokesman for Air Midwest parent Mesa Air Group, said the company was reviewing the findings and would not comment further.
The report prompted two senior Democrats on the House Transportation Committee, James Oberstar of Minnesota and Peter DeFazio of Oregon to ask the Transportation Department inspector general to broaden a probe of airline contract maintenance to assess safety. Many carriers farm out at least some maintenance to save money.
An agency spokesman said Inspector General Kenneth Mead was following up with lawmakers on their request.
Doomed Flight 5481 to Greenville, South Carolina, operated for US Airways as a commuter flight by Air Midwest, climbed after takeoff from Charlotte airport at a steep angle, rolled and crashed. All 19 passengers and two crew members died.
CABLES IMPROPERLY ADJUSTED
Investigators quickly concluded that cables controlling the plane's elevator, which regulates aircraft pitch, were improperly adjusted.
Records show that mechanics for Raytheon Aerospace, an Air Midwest contractor, had performed the work in West Virginia two days before the accident. The mechanic who adjusted the cables had never done that work, had little guidance and was poorly supervised. Investigators also found that mechanics skipped steps, including one that investigators said probably would have caught the cable misalignment.
In addition, they raised questions about record keeping, Air Midwest maintenance training and oversight, and the clarity of the aircraft's maintenance manual, which was written by manufacturer Raytheon Aircraft, a unit of Raytheon Co.
Raytheon Aerospace, which changed its name last year to Vertex Aerospace, is not related to Raytheon Co. It no longer does maintenance work for Air Midwest.
Compounding the maintenance problems, investigators said, were inadequate standards at Air Midwest for assessing the weight and balance of passengers and luggage. This led to "substantially inaccurate" calculations on Flight 5481.
The Beech 1900 had flown several times after the maintenance work but not with the type of load it was carrying on its final flight. The plane was 600 pounds (272 kg) overweight and tail heavy. But investigators said the plane should have been able to fly if its elevator was working.
