Safety Concerns for American Airlines Passengers

In April 2008, following the allegations that the FAA was lax in its enforcement of Airworthiness Directives and the subsequent $10.2 million fine against Southwest Airlines for flying planes that missed inspections, American Airlines cancelled over 3,000 flights to inspect, and in some cases, repair wiring in the wheel wells of the planes. The cancellations affected around 100,000 passengers, whose vacations and family events, including vacations and family weddings, could not be repaired with monetary compensation.

The FAA had given airlines an order in September 2006 to fix the bundling of wires on MD-80 airplanes. Improper bundling could rub, causing friction that could lead to an electrical short or even a fire. The airlines had 18 months, or until March 2008, to comply. While American claims that they believed they had fixed the bundling, as of April 9, 2008 only 30 MD-80s had been cleared to fly by the FAA. American Airlines executives suggested that they were the “victim of suddenly stepped-up scrutiny” by the FAA. How Was Your Flight believes that American Airlines passengers have the right to expect that the company is fully complying with all safety directives, regardless of the degree of scrutiny by the FAA.

This is not the only problem that American has had with its MD-80s, flights of which make up a third of its daily operations. According to a recent CNN investigation, American’s fleet of MD-80 plans has recorded 23 landing gear problems, several of which have resulted in emergency landings in the last few months, as of April 2008. A pilot reported one incident involving a malfunctioning nose gear that disabled the plane’s anti-icing systems, causing the plane to look like a “popsicle.”

American stated that they identified the root causes of the problems with the nose landing gear and fixed them, asserting that the problems were related to “extremely cold temperatures and precipitation.” However, the pilots’ union says the problem is not strictly a cold weather issue, given that one of the incidents happened in Florida. American’s response was to discredit the pilots by implying that that they were sharing “misinformation” with the media. These types of PR-focused responses do little to address real safety issues that are of concern for passengers and airline employees.

Underlying this debacle is the fact that American is flying old planes, particularly the MD-80s, which require more maintenance and, likely, more time-consuming and potentially flight-grounding inspections. American has the second oldest fleet in the country with an average age of 15 years. Their MD-80s have an average age of 18 years. While American has plans to take delivery of new Boeing 737-800s, the current backlog in production could mean that they won’t be delivered until around 2012-2015.

Flying Across the Atlantic With A Missing Panel

On April 20, 2008, an American Airlines flight took off from Dallas/Fort Worth to Paris when the crew reported that they heard a loud noise and felt a “short-lived vibration.” The pilot did not stop, and proceeded with the flight. When they landed in Paris, ground crews discovered that one of the panels covering an air conditioner was gone, leaving an 18-square-foot hole at the belly of the plane.

While there is debate around whether or not the pilot should have stopped, American Airlines issued a memo on May 7, after emails and photos of the plane with the hole circulated over the internet. According to one of the emails from a flight attendant on that flight, “not one person from management met [their] return flight yesterday from Paris,” and they “were not asked to fill out any safety and incidents form or anything.”

Saving Fuel At What Risk?

The FAA is investigating a near-miss incident that occurred in early April 2008 on a runway at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where American Airlines mechanics were towing a plane to a maintenance hangar using a high-speed tug. According to NBC 5 in Dallas, the mechanics did not stop in time, pulling the jumbo jet into the path of another plane that was landing. The pilot avoided a collision, but the representative from the National Air Traffic Controllers Association said that the planes came extremely close to each other, with reports ranging from 9 feet to 25 feet apart.

According to the NBC 5 report, American Airlines had been towing planes across runways without turning on the plane’s lights as a fuel-saving measure. Officials from the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport have requested that American Airlines get the planes lit, but “have not had any substantial progress in meeting this goal.” This essentially creates what the air traffic controller described as “a big black hole out there at night,” a dangerous situation that negates any efforts to save costs if an incident occurs.

photo credit: Cubbie_n_Vegas