Airline safety problems

Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010 | 2:06 a.m.

Over the past six years, the Federal Aviation Administration levied more than $28 million in fines against 25 airlines. It’s no wonder. USA Today reported Tuesday that more than 65,000 flights during the same period, carrying millions of passengers, took off without proper maintenance being done.

The newspaper reported that the total number of flights that left airports in substandard condition may be higher because problems aren’t always reported. In many cases, airlines flew the planes for months before the FAA found the problems, and in some cases, the planes continued to fly after the FAA found the deficiencies.

“Many repairs are not being done or done properly, and too many flights are leaving the ground in what the FAA calls ‘unairworthy,’ or unsafe, condition,” says John Goglia, a former airline mechanic who served for eight years on the National Transportation Safety Board.

In a review of federal documents, USA Today found a slate of problems, including unqualified mechanics, shoddy repair work and poor oversight by both the airlines and the FAA. Since Jan. 1, 2000, 19 crashes have been attributed to maintenance problems. No one was killed or injured in 10 of those. In the rest, 131 people died and 60 were injured.

The FAA reported levying 145 fines in the past six years and issuing 1,155 warnings for maintenance problems. Southwest Airlines had the largest fine — $7.5 million for operating 46 jets over two years without mandatory fuselage inspections for cracks that could cause a crash. Even after the airline learned that it had not inspected the jets, it continued to fly them for 1,451 flights, USA Today reported. Southwest has since agreed to work with the FAA to show its compliance.

The newspaper found numerous problems with other airlines and some horrific examples of maintenance failures. The crew of a United jet noted low oil pressure taking off from Denver in 2008. The pilots shut down the engine and returned to the airport. Mechanics later found two towels, instead of protective caps, were covering the oil sump area where they had evidently been put during maintenance four months before.

However, FAA officials say their standards for airplane maintenance are high, which is a way of saying that many of the violations may be relatively minor. Aviation officials also note that the number of flights that took off in subpar condition represent a fraction of the nearly 64 million flights that U.S. airliners flew over the past six years.

Regardless, this report presents a clear indication of the problems in the aviation industry that have put millions of passengers and airline crew members at needless risk. It can’t be allowed to continue. The FAA needs to address this — quickly.