Revisiting Ethiopia Flight 409

Safety of the American Traveling Public and Crewmembers Must be Maintained, Unions Say

WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2011 — Today, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division and Transport Workers Union (TWU) commended PBS “Frontline” on its investigative report into airline maintenance. The two unions also stated that much remains to be addressed to ensure the safety of the traveling public.

The report brought to light the increasing use by U.S. airlines of maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities that are not part of the airlines maintenance departments. In many cases, it noted these facilities use non-licensed technicians or mechanics with little or no training on the aircraft. In some cases the workers had very limited or no understanding of English, making it impossible to read maintenance repair manuals that specify the FAA required procedure to fix an aircraft.

According to the report, one facility used by major U.S. airlines, when notified in advance of an upcoming FAA safety inspection, hid unauthorized and illegal parts from FAA inspectors, and subsequently returned them to inventory after the inspection for use. Incidents of “pencil-whipping,” a practice of signing off aircraft logbooks indicating repairs had been accomplished when they had not, were also reported. The report also revealed that internal airline documents stated that these falsified repairs came to light only after the aircraft was returned to service and in some cases, could have resulted in loss of the aircraft and loss of lives.

On Jan. 20, 2011 it was announced that the FAA has proposed a $1.025 million civil penalty against San Antonio Aerospace, L.P., for failing to conduct FAA required pre-employment drug tests or waiting to properly verify those tests before hiring as many as 90 people to perform safety-sensitive functions between March 2007 and May 2008. The company is a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Aerospace and in Nov. 2009 was renamed ST Aerospace San Antonio. According to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the agency alleges that 25 total employees performed “safety-sensitive” work before the results of the drug testing had been verified, and that 62 workers were not administered the test.
Teamsters Airline Division Director David Bourne, commenting on the report and proposed FAA fines said, “The airline industries increasing use of MRO’s with problems similar to those mentioned in the documentary has been a concern for some time. Hearing the nature and gravity of the FAA inspection and proposed fines at ST Aerospace is even more troubling.”

“When an airline has a fully staffed facility on its property, with mechanics and technicians that are fully trained and licensed on the specific airplane that needs to be repaired and a complete and legal parts inventory, we have to question the reasoning behind sending airplanes elsewhere to get repaired at substandard facilities,” Bourne said. “Compromising safety to increase the bottom line is simply unacceptable. Doing so during a time when many airlines are now reporting record profits, is even worse. This is not a new issue. We have watched with great concern at airlines who have taken aircraft from airports in the U.S. with fully staffed and qualified mechanics and technicians and flown them, in some cases, halfway around the world to get repaired in a facility where English is at best, sometimes a second language, just to save money.”

John M. Conley, Administrative Vice President of the Transport Workers Union, also commented on the issues exposed in the PBS report.

“More often than not, this work is done with minimal or substandard oversight to ensure a proper repair and FAA compliance,” said Conley, who is also a member of the FAA’s Future of Aviation Advisory Committee (FAAC). “When we have a situation where properly trained and skilled airline maintenance professionals are pushed aside to increase profits, we are left with an environment where pilots have no way of knowing who repaired an aircraft or if the repair was properly accomplished; in effect they become flying guinea pigs along with the flight attendants and passengers.”

Conley, whose union represents airline professionals at several U.S. airlines explained, “We all say we are committed to safety, but sometimes safety is elusive. Maintenance, repair and overhaul work can and should be done properly and safely by the airlines maintenance facilities utilizing trained and qualified employees — to find that the FAA has fined ST Aerospace and also Pemco troubles us as well.

“In the Pemco case, the FAA had asserted that Pemco could not comply with even basic FAA requirements on three occasions. This again brings into question why any airline would use a facility that can’t meet the same requirements that they themselves must adhere to. It starts with a commitment to safety and a safety culture; something that does not appear to be a high priority with some of these facilities,” Conley said.

In December, the Teamsters and TWU sent a joint letter to Chairman Jerry Costello (D-IL) supporting his call for additional oversight hearings on MRO facilities.

“Airline management must be held to the highest standards when it comes to the maintenance of commercial airliners and the people who work on them. Accepting the minimum standard should never be good enough for the FAA. The traveling public and the crews that operate these airliners must never be compromised. They should not have to guess if the airliner they are travelling on was properly repaired or if the work was done by the cheapest bidder,” Conley stated.

Bourne continued, “We are pleased to note that recently, FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, himself a former airline pilot, was quoted as saying, ‘Safety is compromised when our regulations are skirted or ignored. The traveling public has to be confident that the people who perform work on their planes are complying with those regulations.’ We agree completely with the administrator,” Bourne said.

Transport Workers Union of America represents 200,000 workers and retirees, primarily in commercial aviation, public transportation and passenger railroads, including the majority of ground workers at American Airlines, American Eagle and Southwest Airlines and dispatchers at most major carriers. The union is an affiliate of the AFL-CIO. For more information, visit www.twu.org.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women throughout the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. For more information, please visit www.Teamster.org.