Focus Is On Untrained Workers And Infrequent Inspections

TWU members visited Congressional offices this week asking for tougher regulations over out-of-country repair stations operating under FAA approval.  The union also handed out "simulated boarding passes" filled with maintenance-related questions to people leaving Congressional office buildings.

TWU claims that hundreds of offshore facilities have minimal oversight by the FAA.  They cite issues such as foreign maintenance workers that never receive the proper training and aren't subjected to the same random drug, alcohol and background checks as maintenance technicians in the US.

The FAA has approved 698 maintenance facilities outside the US . Nine major air carriers reviewed by the FAA's Inspector General (IG) sent 71 percent of their heavy airframe maintenance checks to outside repair stations in 2007, up from 34 percent in 2003. Foreign repair stations received 19 percent of these major maintenance jobs in 2007. The work includes C and D checks.

"Offshore maintenance is the airline industry's dirty little secret," said TWU International President James C. Little. "Our union is going to tell the public that offshoring means your plane has a lower standard for maintenance, it means the licensure and security standard for the mechanics and their helpers who worked on that aircraft is questionable and it means that federal regulators had limited access to facilities where the plane was repaired."

TWU cites security risks in offshore maintenance facilities that have been documented in a 2003 US DOT IG report and through Congressional testimony. The IG report includes the following findings:

• FAA still does not have comprehensive data on how much and where outsourced maintenance is performed.
• There is no standard for all FAA offices regarding initial inspector visits, which can cause safety issues to go unchecked.
• Problems existed, such as untrained mechanics, lack of required tools and unsafe storage of aircraft parts.

In a recent NPR story on international aviation maintenance, former NTSB member John Goglia said "These findings are very, very disturbing. We don't know what's going on in those facilities. If we're not monitoring them properly, how do we know it's safe?"

FMI: www.twu.org, www.NPR.org