Now, Why'd He Do That?

**   Report created 1/2/03   Record 1  **
IDENTIFICATION
  Regis#: 313FL        Make/Model: B737      Description: 737-300
  Date: 01/01/2003     Time: 1945
  Event Type: Incident   Highest Injury: None     Mid Air: N    Missing: N
  Damage: Unknown
LOCATION
  City: DENVER   State: CO   Country: US
DESCRIPTION
FRONTIER 136 WAS PUSHING BACK FOR DEPARTURE WHEN A MECHANIC THREW A WHEEL CHOCK INTO ONE OF THE ENGINES. DENVER, CO.

INJURY DATA      Total Fatal:   0
                 # Crew:  0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   Y
                 # Pass:   0     Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   Y
                 # Grnd:         Fat:   0     Ser:   0     Min:   0     Unk:   
WEATHER: UNK
OTHER DATA
  Activity: Other      Phase: Other      Operation: Air Carrier
  Departed:                             Dep Date:    Dep. Time:
  Destination:                          Flt Plan: IFR          Wx Briefing: U
  Last Radio Cont:
  Last Clearance:
  FAA FSDO: DENVER, CO  (NM03)                    Entry date: 01/02/2003

The Company issued a memo to employees, and from it, we offer the following relevant excerpts:

Yesterday afternoon, Jan. 1, 2003, a Denver-based Frontier employee was involved in a situation that resulted in aircraft damage. The employee allegedly threw a wheel chock (the rubber "block" that goes by the wheels when an aircraft is parked at the gate) at the engine of a Boeing 737-300 aircraft. The chock was ingested into the engine, causing damage to the engine and taking the aircraft out of service.

The incident occurred on Frontier flight 136 departing Denver for Dallas. Approximately 130 passengers were on board and all of the passengers were reloaded onto another Frontier aircraft and then continued to Dallas.

The employee involved, along with other Frontier employees and passengers who witnessed the incident, have been questioned, and continue to be questioned, by federal authorities...

The purpose of this communication is not to speculate as to what happened or cause greater concern. Rather, when a situation like this occurs, the best recovery for us as a company is to be out in front of the issue with our customers. Our customers will likely see news coverage of this incident and may have questions for customer contact employees. Answering those questions as professionally as possible is key and those efforts are appreciated. The facts as we know them at this time are:

• The aircraft sustained a lightening strike the night before (Tuesday evening, Dec. 31, 2002) inbound to Tampa.
• The aircraft underwent two lightening strike inspections in Tampa, and was approved for flight and signed off.
• Upon arrival in Denver, additional inspections were performed, and all of the mechanics involved in that inspection, with the exception of one, approved the aircraft for flight.
• The pilot in command also approved the aircraft for flight.
• The employee who claims to have had additional doubt about the aircraft inspection process did not utilize proper channels to voice those doubts or document those concerns. Instead, he apparently took very extreme steps that caused damage to the aircraft.

Safety is paramount to everything we do at Frontier, and there is no doubt among any of the other employees involved in this incident that the aircraft was in any way unsafe for flight...

You may confirm that Frontier is working with the appropriate authorities, including the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the Federal Aviation Administration to investigate the incident, and those organizations will be releasing any pertinent information about the incident, as they deem appropriate.

FMI: www.frontierairlines.com