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Maintenance or Magic?

George’s Point of View

The NTSB conducted a hearing investigating when American Flight 1400’s left engine caught fire during departure from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport. The Sept. 28, 2007 incident is blamed on aircraft maintenance, or more properly, the lack of aircraft maintenance.

Ten days before the incident
After the left engine would not start, six times the “start valve” was replaced. Now, after the fire, the issue is judged to be the fault of mechanics who failed to properly maintain a metal air filter that disintegrated. Filter loss led to a bent pin, which led to the valves being replaced, which caused the engine fire. So the kingdom falls for lack of a horse. Or a filter, in this case.

Maintenance workers who don’t follow procedure can cause serious problems. In this case, the 143 passengers were unhurt.

Yes, this is a maintenance issue. However, aircraft mechanics are not magicians. Is the real question here actually one of maintenance, or is it an overly optimistic assessment of mechanical life? Is management thinking that replacement cost is so prohibitive that planes must literally be run until they fall apart? Is it possible that the mechanics in this place would have recommended to replace that engine rather than repair what may not have been repairable?

There is a real question here whether the maintenance crew is guilty of substandard work–or if they are simply at the bottom of the food chain, and destined to be the fall guys for someone at the top. In this tight economy, do airlines have irrational expectations of squeezing mileage out of exhausted equipment?

The original incident:
NTSB Identification: DCA07MA310
Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121: Air Carrier operation of AMERICAN AIRLINES
Accident occurred Friday, September 28, 2007 in St. Louis, MO
Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 (MD-82), registration: N454AA
Injuries: 143 Uninjured.


This is preliminary information, subject to change, and may contain errors. Any errors in this report will be corrected when the final report has been completed.

On September 28, 2007, at 1316 central daylight time, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-82 (MD-82), N454AA, operated by American Airlines as flight 1400, executed an emergeny landing at Lambert-St Louis International Airport (STL), St. Louis, Missouri, after the flight crew received a left engine fire warning during departure climb from the airport. The airplane sustained substantial damage. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed and an instrument flight rules flight plan was filed for the 14 CFR Part 121 scheduled domestic flight. After landing, the 2 flight crew, 3 flight attendants, and 138 passengers deplaned via airstairs and no occupant injuries were reported. The intended destination of the flight was Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD), Chicago, Illinois.

Upon receiving the left engine fire warning during climb, the flight crew discharged the aircraft engine fire bottles into the affected engine. During the visual return and single-engine approach to the airport, the nose landing gear did not extend. The flight crew then extended the nose landing gear using the emergency landing gear extension procedure. The airplane returned and then landed on runway 30L (11,019 feet by 200 feet, grooved concrete) and was met by STL Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Vehicles

The NTSB identification number for this investigation was administratively changed from CHI07MA310 to DCA07MA310 on April 2, 2008.

src: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=20071005X01522&key=1

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