The FAA has proposed a $348,000 civil penalty against
Chautauqua Airlines for allegedly operating some of its regional
jets without performing inspections required by five different FAA
airworthiness directives (ADs). FAA investigations found that
problems with Chautauqua's management of its maintenance program
and its system for tracking the status of airworthiness directives
led to the alleged violations.
One AD compliance issue involved mandated repetitive inspections
for possible cracks in the lower wing planks of Canadair Regional
Jets (CRJ) after every 5,000 flights. The FAA alleges that:
Eight different Chautauqua CRJs conducted more than 9,900
flights between October 2007 and December 2008 before the required
lower wing inspections were done.
In January 2009, the airline operated another CRJ on 231
flights without inspecting a different section of the lower wings
for cracks and flew a different CRJ for 61 hours without a required
inspection of electrical relays.
Another Chautauqua CRJ made more than 17,600 flights between
November 2007 and January 2009 before mandatory inspections of the
plane's GE engines were performed. Chautauqua also flew one of its
Embraer 145 regional jets for 43 days past the time one of its
inertial navigation units should have been replaced.
"An air carrier's maintenance program can't function without a
good system to determine compliance with airworthiness directives,"
said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. "Problems with the AD system
are inconsistent with an airline's continued safe operation."
Chautauqua has 30 days from the receipt of the FAA's civil
penalty letter to respond to the agency.
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