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Article published March 27th, 2008

chicagotribune.com

American Airlines not out of the woods yet

Delta also orders reinspections of aircraft

By Jon Hilkevitch and Julie Johnson
Tribune reporters
8:32 AM CDT, March 27, 2008

American Airlines canceled 132 flights Thursday across its system as it continues to inspect and repair electrical wire problems on it MD-80 jets. Twenty-one of those cancellations are at O'Hare International Airport.

"We have fewer cancellations than we did yesterday, although the number may still grow a little bit," said American spokesman Tim Wagner. On Wednesday, the airline canceled 318 flights systemwide, including 68 at O'Hare.

The airline has completely inspected "and repaired as needed" 243 aircraft, he said. Another 47 are under repair, and nine more will be inspected this evening, he said.

Separately, the Associated Press reported that Delta Airlines expects about 275 cancellations through early Friday, affecting about 3 percent of its worldwide flight schedule. About 70 percent of Delta's MD-88 fleet was to be inspected for similar potential faulty wiring problems by early evening Thursday, with normal operations planned by early Friday, spokeswoman Chris Kelly said.

Delta became the fourth airline this month to order hasty reinspections because of safety concerns.

American scrubbed its MD-80 flights Wednesday amid mounting congressional pressure on airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration to eliminate shortcomings in aircraft maintenance and failures in government oversight before a crash occurs.

The crisis of confidence in airline safety erupted after disclosures two weeks ago that Southwest Airlines flew thousands of passengers on about 45 jets that hadn't undergone mandatory safety inspections. As it launched an internal investigation into that breach, Southwest later grounded 38 other jets after uncovering sloppy paperwork that caused it to question whether the planes' fuselages had been properly examined for cracks.

"The safety we know in this decade is a result of a whole lot of accidents that occurred in the 1990s that were investigated and, because of them, changes were made in the system," Jim Hall, a former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Wednesday.

"If this [current] culture continues, then we could face another rash of accidents in this decade," Hall warned.

In reaction to the safety troubles at Southwest, the FAA's acting administrator directed inspectors last week to reconfirm that all 116 U.S. airlines have fully complied with every previous safety order.

Within days, United Airlines grounded seven Boeing 747s for reinspection over concerns that a Korean repair company had used improperly maintained equipment to calibrate the planes' anti-collision systems.

On Tuesday, the FAA ordered inspections on hundreds of older Boeing 737s after numerous reports of fuel leaks caused by a potentially faulty bolt. A fire had destroyed a China Airlines 737 last August when a bolt from a right wing slat pierced the jet's fuel tank. All 165 people aboard evacuated unharmed.

The incidents were followed by the scare this week over the safety of the wiring in American's MD-80s, workhorses that first entered service in the 1980s.

Aviation experts worry that the airlines, desperate to control expenses at a time of high fuel costs, are deferring or outsourcing critical maintenance. In addition, the FAA doesn't have the resources to ensure that quality standards are properly maintained, the experts say.

The FAA has increasingly relied on the airlines to voluntarily report potential safety issues, in part because aircraft maintenance is scattered among thousands of facilities worldwide. Many airlines have downsized or closed their own maintenance centers to cut costs.

"We have no idea by looking at the flight logs if or what maintenance was accomplished on the aircraft we are flying," said Bill Konn, a retired MD-80 captain.

"Please explain to me why a huge airline with computer technology and modern equipment has to cancel flights to check and see if mandatory maintenance was done," Konn said.

American canceled 68 flights at O'Hare International Airport on Wednesday in order to quickly reinspect its fleet of MD-80s, the airline reported. It scratched an additional 320 flights elsewhere in the U.S.

The disruption occurred during the busy spring-break travel period. Several hundred American passengers waited at O'Hare on Wednesday morning. Little information had been provided to them.

Cynthia Gonzalez and her family were supposed to take a 7:45 a.m. flight to Denver for a ski trip.

"This is our second spring break in a row where we've had plans on American Airlines and we've been canceled," she said. "Needless to say, we are less than pleased."

The FAA set a Friday deadline for all airlines to complete initial safety audits on their original inspections, followed by a full safety review by June 30.

"We feel that the U.S. fleet is safe, but we are doing this supplemental review to ensure that all carriers are in compliance with all airworthiness directives," said FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Isham Cory.

"Because of the Southwest situation, we said let's do it again and make sure everything is in compliance," Cory said.

But some analysts said the spate of recent inspections reflects efforts by the FAA and airlines to defuse a politically explosive issue.

"I think it's FAA inspectors scrambling to make sure they've got their paperwork up to snuff," said aviation consultant Robert Mann. "In some cases it points to a lack of coordination between the airline and inspectors."

American had completed the inspection of its MD-80s within an 18-month deadline.

But a joint team of American and FAA inspectors on Monday night reviewed the inspection order. After examining some MD-80s, they "found discrepancies" concerning a requirement on how far apart clips that hold wire bundles together should be spaced, said American spokesman Tim Wagner.

In July 2005, the FAA ordered all U.S. airlines that operate MD-80s to make sure that wire bundles in aircraft wheel wells are secured with clips set 1 inch apart. Loose or chafed wires could cut off power to hydraulic lines or even spark a fire or explosion, the FAA said.

"We made the decision on Tuesday night to go in and reinspect all our MD-80s," Wagner said.

American determined that its mechanics had not attached wire bundles leading to an auxiliary fuel pump and hydraulics systems at the 1-inch interval as required, according to the FAA.

The FAA, meanwhile, has contacted other airlines flying MD-80s about the wiring issue. There are more than 730 MD-80s operated by U.S. carriers. American has the largest MD-80 fleet, about 300 planes.

In the Southwest case, records released by Congress indicate that Southwest and the FAA falsified records showing that the airline complied with regulations for safety inspections of jets.

The FAA subsequently fined Southwest more than $10 million for flying dozens of planes that were almost three years late for safety inspections and should have been grounded until the work was done.

Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, scheduled a hearing for next week to investigate FAA failures to provide safety oversight of the airlines.

Some members of Congress are concerned about the reluctance the FAA has shown in prosecuting some potential safety violations.

"It suggests there may be too cozy of a relationship between the airlines and the FAA," said U.S. Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.), a member of the House Transportation Committee.

jhilkevitch@tribune.com

jjohnsson@tribune.com