B-Daddy here. If you're stranded in an airport today and stumbled on our humble little blog by accident, my condolences and best wishes in finding a flight. Godspeed, to coin a phrase. However, don't get angry at the poor woman behind the ticket counter. I have a list of candidates on whom to vent your ire, provided for your consideration.
Some background. In 2006, yeah that long ago, the FAA told the airlines to check wire bundles in the wheel wells of MD-80, MD-88, and MD-90 aircraft. The goal was to ensure that the wires were secured so as to prevent them from becoming chaffed. Purportedly, checks were performed and no chaffing was found. The wiring bundles were also to have been secured to prevent future chaffing. Important point to note, at that time, the airlines were given 18 months to comply.
So why the hubbub? In a second round of spot checks, the FAA found "slack wires, clamps in the wrong position, insulation that was too thick...." blah, blah. OK, there were problems, but why did they then deny American Airlines' request to space out inspections and repairs over several days? After all, they had waited 18 months already.
The answer starts with our Congress. Sen. John Rockefeller, also famous for accusing McCain for knowing nothing of real war, and chair of the Senate aviation sub-committee has been lambasting the FAA repeatedly. Along with other lawmakers, he has asserted a cozy relationship between the agency and the airlines.
So what's a bureaucrat to do? The FAA spinelessly creates a phony crisis that will cost an airline hundreds of millions of dollars and create havoc for the flying public. That'll learn them West Virginian politicians.
Meanwhile, what about the management at American Airlines. Couldn't we fix the wheel well wiring correctly in the first place? Just because you get 18 months to get the job done, does that mean you do it half-a***d?
Finally, what about the highly credentialed union mechanics working for American? I have more than once heard the argument on behalf of unions, that they ensure a trained and qualified work force is on the job in industries important to the welfare and safety of the nation. Not in this case, most of the defects had to do with properly measuring the placement of banding around cable bundles to prevent chaffing and these guys couldn't get it right. The real concern is how they're doing with safety retrofits that are really important.
H/T: San Diego Union-Tribune
Friday, April 11, 2008
Plenty of Blame to Go Around in Airline Mess
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4 comments:
I didn't know that about Rockefeller. Still, American has no excuses.
B-Daddy, can we throw the OEM (Boeing?) in there also. It would appear this chafing problem is a latent defect in the manufacturing process. Humble shipbuilders as I know enough to provide chafing protection for wiring around sharp edges and corners.
Also, with the sheer number of planes, the FAA cannot be an inspection agency but only an auditing one.
The ultimate responsibility resides with the manufacturer but it then becomes incumbent on the operator to ensure the safe operation of the plane regardless of the condition in which it was purchased.
Unless its outside the warranty period (if one exists), I would imagine there has been legal/contractual conversations between American and Boeing
Dean,
All good points. Minor correction is that the MD-80 aircraft are manufactured by McDonnell-Douglas. My original point still stands regardless. Why did we put so many passengers through such pain, and the airline to huge expense, when the FAA originally gave the airlines 18 months to comply? Smells like politics to me.
You mean "M-D" does not rhyme with Boeing? A little too much sun this weekend, perhaps.
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