Doesn't Name Airlines... But Headlines Tell The Story
Last week, FAA Acting Administrator
Robert Sturgell noted the agency's massive audit of airline safety
inspections and procedures found a 99 percent compliance rate with
airworthiness directives among US airlines. Now, a bit more
information on that remaining one percent has come to light.
The FAA is investigating four carriers the agency found lacking
it their procedures to adhere to maintenance inspections, according
to The Associated Press. Two of the unnamed airlines are under FAA
microscopes regarding wire bundle inspections; one had not
submitted a compliance plan; and the fourth failed to complete
mandatory scheduled inspections.
Though the agency did not name the carriers outright, it isn't
very difficult to connect the dots... as in recent weeks American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and Southwest Airlines have taken
various, much-publicized measures to correct maintenance
shortcomings, often resulting in cancelled flights as planes were
pulled from service to check compliance.
The FAA's sudden, apparently reinvigorated pursuit of airline safety
came after two inspectors blew the whistle on the too-friendly
relationship between FAA officials tasked to oversee maintenance
compliance at Southwest Airlines, and that carrier's management.
Minnesota Congressman James Oberstar, who has spearheaded
Congressional hearings on the matter, termed that relationship "a
culture of coziness," which apparently resulted in FAA inspectors
allowing Southwest to skirt mandatory fuselage fatigue inspections
on its older Boeing 737 models.
During hearings before Oberstar and the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee, congressional investigator Clay Foushee
said he was outraged by what he heard from former FAA inspectors
Charalambe "Bobby" Boutris and Douglas Peters, who blew the whistle
on the situation at Southwest.
"Those are the guys and girls who are qualified to see what is
out there in the system," Foushee said, reports The Dallas Morning
News. "And if they bring something back and it gets minimized or
suppressed, and they try to take it to the higher-ups and they
suffer professionally, that is an appalling situation."
Foushee credits the investigation at Southwest for placing
pressure on the FAA to audit maintenance practices industrywide.
Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell denies the congressional
investigation played a role, and defended the agency's move toward
analysis of data reported by the carriers to spot safety
concerns.