Signed Off On Maintenance Lapses At LCC

The FAA inspector blamed for signing off on Southwest Airlines planes flying past required federal safety inspection intervals has retired from the agency, officials announced Tuesday.

As ANN reported, in March whistleblowers Charalambe Boutris and Douglas E. Peters told the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that Douglas T. Gawadzinski, the agency's chief maintenance inspector at Southwest, gave permission for Southwest to keep planes flying "in an unsafe or unairworthy condition," and that another inspector knew of the problem but didn't do anything about it.

According to their testimony, both men also stated Gawadzinski tried to remove Boutris from the inspectors ranks at Southwest, at the urging of the airline. The supervisor declined, but ordered Boutris' upcoming review be postponed "until he gave the green light," according to a report filed by special counsel.

Gawadzinski and another FAA manager, Mike Mills, were temporarily reassigned in May 2007... but Gawadzinski was still allowed to conduct several inspections, reports The Dallas Morning News, even as his behavior at Southwest was under investigation.

Gawadzinski's retirement was effective this week, according to an FAA spokeswoman. The DMN was unable to reach him for comment Tuesday.

The FAA subsequently fined Southwest $10.2 million for continuing to fly 46 older 737-300s and -500s in March 2007 without performing mandatory checks for fatigue cracks. The airline later found evidence of cracks on six of those aircraft.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.southwest.com