Editorial: Unnecessary flight risk

Sunday, July 30, 2006 | 8:16 a.m.

Federal decision to exempt older planes from safety inspections should be reversed

Airplanes built before 1958 should not be exempt from regular safety inspections, says the federal agency charged with investigating airplane crashes.

The National Transportation Safety Board last week cited the December 2005 crash of a Chalk Ocean Airways seaplane off the coast of Florida, in which 20 people died, as an example of why the Federal Aviation Administration should revise the regulations it altered last year.

According to a story by the Palm Beach Post, the NTSB found cracks in the wings of the Grumman G-73T Mallard seaplane, which was built in 1947. Investigators also said that, while some repair and maintenance records were missing, other records showed that the plane's wings had several fuel leaks in 2005 and also had undergone major repairs at least three times since 1991.

An FAA rule change in February 2005 requires extensive maintenance and inspections only on planes built since 1958, meaning that the Chalk airways plane was exempt. An FAA spokeswoman said the exemption was made because so few of the older planes are still being used and few carry large groups of passengers. However, the spokeswoman told the Post, the FAA "certainly will take another look at" the exemption because of the concerns the safety board has raised.

A former Transportation Department inspector general told the Post that older aircraft are "statistically more risky" and that the FAA should prohibit any plane more than 50 years old from being used for passenger service.

We agree. There should be no exemptions for any passenger aircraft when it comes to safety inspections. And planes more than 50 years old belong in museums, not still carrying commercial passengers.