Team 4 Investigates An Airiplane Repair

PITbull

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Dec 29, 2002
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Team 4 Investigates Airplane Repair


US Airways and other airlines outsource about half their maintenance work. Some of it is done in Europe, Asia and South America.

US Airways is trying to outsource more work. The company, and other airlines, say outsourcing saves money without sacrificing safety.

Internal investigations by the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board, and inspection reports obtained by Team 4, find faulty work and lax inspections that can be deadly.

The following investigative report by Team 4's Paul Van Osdol first aired March 2, 2004, on Action News at 6 p.m.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Two deadly accidents, seven years apart.

Video


Watch Van Osdol's Report





May 1996: Valujet Flight 592 crashes into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 passengers and crew.

January 2003: US Airways Express Flight 5481 crashes in Charlotte, N.C., killing all 21 aboard.

The National Transportation Safety Board found that faulty work done at outside maintenance contractors was a factor in both crashes.

Despite the concerns raised about maintenance contractors after the Valujet crash, Federal Aviation Administration inspector Gene McCoy says the federal agency responsible for air safety made few changes. He says there are too many repair stations spread throughout the world and too few inspectors.

If there's a problem, "we catch it sometimes and we fix it, but sometimes you don't find it until there's a major accident," McCoy said. "We have a detailed list of things we can go through, but we don't have the time to do that in most cases, so we do it piecemeal."

His concerns are backed up by a report that was done last year by the Department of Transportation's inspector general.

The report says the FAA did 1,900 inspections at airline maintenance facilities in 2002, but only 65 inspections at outside contractors used by the airlines, despite the fact that airlines contract out half of all maintenance. Investigators found problems at 86 percent of the outside repair stations that were surveyed, including mechanics who used the wrong parts or tools.

Team 4 used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain 2,400 pages of FAA inspection reports on repair stations used by US Airways in the past four years. These reports were done on 23 repair stations from Phoenix to France, and from Belgium to Brazil. We found multiple violations in these reports, but only one fine issued out of all these inspections.

Among the violations:

A Pratt and Whitney repair station in Connecticut had mechanics "not specially qualified to perform maintenance on aircraft."

An engine repaired at a General Electric plant in Scotland "was found to have one bolt missing," causing a major oil leak.

The Snecma repair station in France was "failing to adequately monitor compliance with federal aviation regulations."

A Honeywell repair shop in Arizona overhauled an oil pump and returned it to the airline "with missing parts and an unapproved pump drive shaft." That was the only inspection resulting in a fine.

None of those violations resulted in accidents. Company spokesmen who returned our calls say the violations were corrected promptly.

Sarah MacLeod, Aeronautical Repair Station Association: "Our focus has always been on regulatory compliance and ensuring the highest degree of compliance. It's very hard to stay in business if you're not safe."

In November 2002, a United Airlines airbus was forced to make an emergency landing at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago shortly after takeoff. The NTSB found that pilots were unable to retract the nose gear. When the plane landed, the gear wheels turned 90 degrees and blew both tires.

The airbus' nose gear had recently been overhauled by Mobile Aerospace, which is also doing airbus work for US Airways.

In December, the FAA inspected Mobile Aerospace and found that it does not have the capability to pressure-test aircraft ducts after they have been welded. The FAA says that is a crucial tool for making sure welds hold. The inspection also found Mobile Aerospace failing to comply with the FAA's drug-testing program.

Mobile Aerospace officials did not respond to Team 4's request for an interview.

The FAA inspectors for Mobile Aerospace are based in Birmingham, Ala., a four-hour drive away from Mobile.

Van Osdol: "Is it possible to do a surprise inspection in those circumstances?"

McCoy: "Very difficult. The less often we're there on a surprise basis, we don't get the picture. We don't get to see what mistakes may be made so we can fix them."

It's a different story at the US Airways maintenance hangar at Pittsburgh International Airport, where FAA inspectors are in the shop every day.

The FAA says it is changing its ways to do more inspections on outside contractors.

Marion Blakey, FAA administrator: "We're going to make sure that we've got our resources and our inspector workforce keeping up exactly with the way the airlines are doing business."

As airlines continue to cut costs, the head of the machinists union says the airlines and the federal government need to make sure safety is not sacrificed.

Frank Schifano, International Association of Machinists: "We have the best safety record in the world. Why would we jeopardize that for a cheap ticket?"

Us Airways, citing an ongoing legal battle with the machinists union, declined to comment on its use of contractors. In the past, the airline has said that its contractors are safe.

Air Midwest, the owner of the plane that crashed in Charlotte, announced last month that it will no longer send repair work to outside contractors
Copyright 2004 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





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Sensational Work ! :) Now the media is a source? Wasnt i slapped for using the media as a source last week? Hmmmm! More scare tactics here i see. Watch that nose girl when you shoot. I mean isnt that saying of shooting your own nose off despite your face applicable here?
 
Ummm fliboi,

No, you didn't use a media source. You used a Friday company fireside chat by Siegel. There's a chasm of difference.

I'll go through the distinctions once again:

News Reports:
*More checks and balances and fact checking.
*A strong imperative to at least appear objective.

Company Propaganda Line:
*CYA checking by Legal is not the same as fact checking
*No objectivity should be expected
*Assertions should be suspect until they are further reported in SEC filings or verified independently.
*Strong incentive to advance management objectives at expense of truth.


Though neither news reports nor company propaganda lines can be taken as gospel, there is a hierarchy of credibility. If we use a 1-10 scale, the news report can generally be given a 6-7 (higher if you triangulate your information with other sources). A fireside chat by a CEO who has lied to you before and has reasons to lie to you again: a negative 50 or so.


Thank the lords and little fishies for fighters like PITbull. Throughout history justice fighters like her have been beset by naysayers, detractors and potshot artists and fools who think they are wise because they believe what their masters tell them.

Siegel and crew have fooled people twice. Fliboi, why do you insist upon being fooled again?

1) Spring & Summer 2002: Give us concessions or we'll file Chapter 11, thanks for the concessions, oh, by the way, we're filing Chapter 11.

2) Fall and Winter 2002: We got all we needed and we've agreed not to ask for any more, but our DIP guy will whoop and holler about yanking the funding so better give up more or we'll liquidate the thang. Hey, while we're at it, we'll punt the ALPA DBP to the nearly insolvent PBGC.

3) Winter and Spring 2004: Business plan, schmizness plan.... Can you spot us some more concessions. We promise we won't squander them like last time.


What is the saying?
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Looks like it needs a new line: "Fool me thrice, ....."

I swear, our education system completely fails to train people in basic critical thinking!

I now return you all to our regularly scheduled thread.

-Airlineorphan
 
airlineorphan said:
Ummm fliboi,

No, you didn't use a media source. You used a Friday company fireside chat by Siegel. There's a chasm of difference.

I'll go through the distinctions once again:

News Reports:
*More checks and balances and fact checking.
*A strong imperative to at least appear objective.

Company Propaganda Line:
*CYA checking by Legal is not the same as fact checking
*No objectivity should be expected
*Assertions should be suspect until they are further reported in SEC filings or verified independently.
*Strong incentive to advance management objectives at expense of truth.


Though neither news reports nor company propaganda lines can be taken as gospel, there is a hierarchy of credibility. If we use a 1-10 scale, the news report can generally be given a 6-7 (higher if you triangulate your information with other sources). A fireside chat by a CEO who has lied to you before and has reasons to lie to you again: a negative 50 or so.


Thank the lords and little fishies for fighters like PITbull. Throughout history justice fighters like her have been beset by naysayers, detractors and potshot artists and fools who think they are wise because they believe what their masters tell them.

Siegel and crew have fooled people twice. Fliboi, why do you insist upon being fooled again?

1) Spring & Summer 2002: Give us concessions or we'll file Chapter 11, thanks for the concessions, oh, by the way, we're filing Chapter 11.

2) Fall and Winter 2002: We got all we needed and we've agreed not to ask for any more, but our DIP guy will whoop and holler about yanking the funding so better give up more or we'll liquidate the thang. Hey, while we're at it, we'll punt the ALPA DBP to the nearly insolvent PBGC.

3) Winter and Spring 2004: Business plan, schmizness plan.... Can you spot us some more concessions. We promise we won't squander them like last time.


What is the saying?
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Looks like it needs a new line: "Fool me thrice, ....."

I swear, our education system completely fails to train people in basic critical thinking!

I now return you all to our regularly scheduled thread.

-Airlineorphan
Well we finally have some USAIR brothers here. Good to hear from you.

I think that we have all learned at least one thing over the last two years.

WE NEED TO ALL BE IN ONE UNION, and that union is AMFA. THe only union that offers mechanics the opportunity to unite.
 
usfliboi said:
The source was the charlotte observer. Who was the team four's source?
Internal investigations by the Dept. of Transportaion and National Transportation Safety Board and inspection reports .............. just to answer your question.

By the way, if the news station can get a hold of some of these sources, that means some, if not most, may be a matter of public record.

Oh yeah. The Charlotte Observer is not a source. Whom they quoted or the entity from which they got their information IS A SOURCE!!!!!!!


Thank you very much and have a nice day!
 
Airlineorphan,

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, I have rocks for brains."

Sound good?
 
PITbull said:
Team 4 Investigates Airplane Repair


US Airways and other airlines outsource about half their maintenance work. Some of it is done in Europe, Asia and South America.

US Airways is trying to outsource more work. The company, and other airlines, say outsourcing saves money without sacrificing safety.

Internal investigations by the Department of Transportation and the National Transportation Safety Board, and inspection reports obtained by Team 4, find faulty work and lax inspections that can be deadly.

The following investigative report by Team 4's Paul Van Osdol first aired March 2, 2004, on Action News at 6 p.m.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Two deadly accidents, seven years apart.

Video


Watch Van Osdol's Report





May 1996: Valujet Flight 592 crashes into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 passengers and crew.

January 2003: US Airways Express Flight 5481 crashes in Charlotte, N.C., killing all 21 aboard.

The National Transportation Safety Board found that faulty work done at outside maintenance contractors was a factor in both crashes.

Despite the concerns raised about maintenance contractors after the Valujet crash, Federal Aviation Administration inspector Gene McCoy says the federal agency responsible for air safety made few changes. He says there are too many repair stations spread throughout the world and too few inspectors.

If there's a problem, "we catch it sometimes and we fix it, but sometimes you don't find it until there's a major accident," McCoy said. "We have a detailed list of things we can go through, but we don't have the time to do that in most cases, so we do it piecemeal."

His concerns are backed up by a report that was done last year by the Department of Transportation's inspector general.

The report says the FAA did 1,900 inspections at airline maintenance facilities in 2002, but only 65 inspections at outside contractors used by the airlines, despite the fact that airlines contract out half of all maintenance. Investigators found problems at 86 percent of the outside repair stations that were surveyed, including mechanics who used the wrong parts or tools.

Team 4 used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain 2,400 pages of FAA inspection reports on repair stations used by US Airways in the past four years. These reports were done on 23 repair stations from Phoenix to France, and from Belgium to Brazil. We found multiple violations in these reports, but only one fine issued out of all these inspections.

Among the violations:

A Pratt and Whitney repair station in Connecticut had mechanics "not specially qualified to perform maintenance on aircraft."

An engine repaired at a General Electric plant in Scotland "was found to have one bolt missing," causing a major oil leak.

The Snecma repair station in France was "failing to adequately monitor compliance with federal aviation regulations."

A Honeywell repair shop in Arizona overhauled an oil pump and returned it to the airline "with missing parts and an unapproved pump drive shaft." That was the only inspection resulting in a fine.

None of those violations resulted in accidents. Company spokesmen who returned our calls say the violations were corrected promptly.

Sarah MacLeod, Aeronautical Repair Station Association: "Our focus has always been on regulatory compliance and ensuring the highest degree of compliance. It's very hard to stay in business if you're not safe."

In November 2002, a United Airlines airbus was forced to make an emergency landing at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago shortly after takeoff. The NTSB found that pilots were unable to retract the nose gear. When the plane landed, the gear wheels turned 90 degrees and blew both tires.

The airbus' nose gear had recently been overhauled by Mobile Aerospace, which is also doing airbus work for US Airways.

In December, the FAA inspected Mobile Aerospace and found that it does not have the capability to pressure-test aircraft ducts after they have been welded. The FAA says that is a crucial tool for making sure welds hold. The inspection also found Mobile Aerospace failing to comply with the FAA's drug-testing program.

Mobile Aerospace officials did not respond to Team 4's request for an interview.

The FAA inspectors for Mobile Aerospace are based in Birmingham, Ala., a four-hour drive away from Mobile.

Van Osdol: "Is it possible to do a surprise inspection in those circumstances?"

McCoy: "Very difficult. The less often we're there on a surprise basis, we don't get the picture. We don't get to see what mistakes may be made so we can fix them."

It's a different story at the US Airways maintenance hangar at Pittsburgh International Airport, where FAA inspectors are in the shop every day.

The FAA says it is changing its ways to do more inspections on outside contractors.

Marion Blakey, FAA administrator: "We're going to make sure that we've got our resources and our inspector workforce keeping up exactly with the way the airlines are doing business."

As airlines continue to cut costs, the head of the machinists union says the airlines and the federal government need to make sure safety is not sacrificed.

Frank Schifano, International Association of Machinists: "We have the best safety record in the world. Why would we jeopardize that for a cheap ticket?"

Us Airways, citing an ongoing legal battle with the machinists union, declined to comment on its use of contractors. In the past, the airline has said that its contractors are safe.

Air Midwest, the owner of the plane that crashed in Charlotte, announced last month that it will no longer send repair work to outside contractors
Copyright 2004 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





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PitBull, you are flogging a dead horse. Please explain how SWA has a perfect safety record, and they outsource just about everything to do with maintenance?

Maybe these carriers would have accidents regardless because unlike SWA they don't have a culture of placing QA oversight with the contractors? How do you explain Alaskan? Surely the time extension on the jackscrew lubrication interval alone cannot account for the only failure of that part on a DC9/MD80 in the entire history of that aircraft type?
 
j7915 writes:
PitBull, you are flogging a dead horse. Please explain how SWA has a perfect safety record, and they outsource just about everything to do with maintenance?

Maybe these carriers would have accidents regardless because unlike SWA they don't have a culture of placing QA oversight with the contractors? How do you explain Alaskan? Surely the time extension on the jackscrew lubrication interval alone cannot account for the only failure of that part on a DC9/MD80 in the entire history of that aircraft type?

Perhaps some of the mechs at WN can elaborate on this, but I have been hearing that WN is bringing much of their outsourced maintenance back in house.

As for beating a dead horse, the issue is very much a real one and the NTSB has pointed to some serious problems with outsourcing.

-Airlineorphan
 
The ALASKA MD-80 jackscrew failure is a classic example of the B.S. that goes on the aircraft maintenance "world". A mechanic writes up a major part as being "out of limits"(which the jackscrew probably was). Supervision ,seeing that replacing this part will take the aircraft out of service longer than management wants, tries to "pencil whip" the problem. In this case ordering another inspection of the jackscrew to see if they could get a measurement in management's favor. I have read the NTSB found some problems with the tooling ALASKA was using to measure jackscrew wear. During the second inspection reading ,the problem with this tooling went unnoticed or was unknown by the user, a favorable management
measurement was optained and an "unserviceable" jackscrew was put back into service. Compounding the problem the jackscrew was probably wiped clean of grease to make it easier to inspect and wasn't relubricated because the first mechanic who wrote it up as bad "knew" the part was going to be replaced. During the second inspection the lack of lube goes unnoticed or is not realized, and the aircraft is put back into service with an unlubricated "out of limits" jackscrew. In the time it took to try and "pencil whip" this part, they probably could have replaced the part properly and all those people wouldn't have died!