Outside views: FAA should do its job
Chicago Tribune on Saturday: 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 last week, including 596 flights on Friday, to bring its fleet of MD-80 aircraft into full compliance with FAA technical directives. 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.
This week’s mess occurred because a federal bureaucracy tried to look strong after looking weak. The FAA was covering its you-know-what.
Dallas Morning News on Sunday: Without a doubt, planes should not be allowed to fly until they’ve passed proper inspection. However, this massive disruption wouldn’t have occurred had the FAA held the airlines to inspection standards sooner. They didn’t act aggressively against Southwest, where there are allegations that FAA managers hindered FAA inspectors from doing their jobs.
And in American’s case, the FAA issued inspection guidelines two years ago out of concern that improperly bundled wires might cause an electrical short or fire. Yet only now is this issue being addressed vigorously – and amid much confusion.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Sunday: In just a few short weeks, the Federal Aviation Administration has transformed itself from a lapdog for the airline industry into a snarling pit bull.
The FAA ought to heel. Its newfound vigilance is welcome and overdue. But absent critical and compelling maintenance issues, it should give the airlines a few weeks to adjust, rather than leave passengers stewing in the terminals. A little balance would be nice.
American hopes to have its entire MD-80 fleet back in the skies early this week. Next time there is a problem with airline maintenance – and the FAA better be more diligent in looking for them – the FAA should consider all its options carefully. Unless there is evidence of an immediate safety hazard, airlines should be allowed a reasonable amount of time to bring their aircraft into compliance. Meanwhile, passengers could get where they wanted to go.