12 APR, 2008 - 1153 CDT
Quite by coincidence, today's Chicago Tribune lead editorial says
exactly
the same thing that I emailed to all of you yesterday.
- Dick, W9GIG
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FAA, CYA
Chicago Tribune - April 12, 2008
Be glad the Federal Aviation Administration pilots a
bureaucracy and not a plane, because if it piloted your plane you'd be
lunging for the air sickness bag.
American Airlines canceled 3,115 flights this week, including 596 flights
on Friday, to bring its fleet of MD-80 aircraft into full compliance with
FAA technical directives. Another couple hundred flights could be
canceled Saturday. This disruption has inconvenienced about 300,000
passengers and
will cost the airline tens of millions of dollars.
American's planes weren't in imminent danger. Some of them weren't
compliant with an FAA airworthiness directive regarding the wrapping on a
6-foot-long bundle of wires leading to a hydraulic pump in the right
wheel well. Some ties were not spaced correctly. They should all have
been an inch apart; some were an inch and a quarter to an inch and a
half. American acknowledges it discovered one tie spacing that measured 4
inches. Some clamps faced one way and they should have faced
another.
The FAA went for overkill with American after it got caught being lax
with Southwest Airlines. FAA officials recently were hauled before
Congress to explain why they had let Southwest slide on some maintenance
inspections.
The wire-spacing issue didn't catch anyone by surprise. Four years ago,
American, Boeing and the FAA developed a plan to avoid chafing problems
with the wire bundle. (Three such incidents worldwide had been reported;
none on American's planes. Those wires rubbing against each other or
anything else could cause friction and that could lead to a
fire.)
By the time the FAA issued the directive in 2006 and gave airlines 18
months to secure the wire bundles, American was already sheathing its
bundles and securing them with ties and clamps. But there were some minor
technical differences between the plan American, Boeing and the FAA
developed in 2004 and the FAA's 2006 order.
American insists it could have dealt with the differences over the space
of a week, and avoided the major disruptions we've seen. But it didn't
get the chance. This week's mess occurred because a federal bureaucracy
tried to look strong after looking weak. The FAA was covering its
you-know-what.