More troubles for AA -- Maintenance

[FWAAA]

During the MD-80 wiring fiasco, never did I see any mention of this:

The FAA safety investigation involves improperly secured wiring in 290 MD-80s in American's fleet. The loose fastening resulted in damage to wiring in several dozen planes and, in at least a handful of cases, electrical arcing -- a discharge of electricity that presents a potential fire threat, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.

As a result of the safety violations, FAA temporarily grounded hundreds of planes in April 2008, wreaking havoc in the travel schedules of thousands of passengers.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-sources-F...ml?x=0&.v=6

Ho hum. Pay the fine and promise to do better.

 

[The Goose]

During the MD-80 wiring fiasco, never did I see any mention of this:



http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-sources-F...ml?x=0&.v=6

Ho hum. Pay the fine and promise to do better.

There's the strong odor of rotting fish about this entire process.

AMR/AA pulled those 80s from service - not the FAA. Where are these revisionist statements coming from?

At the time, there was never any discussion re: electrical arcing (although the possibility was mentioned and only if the wiring's insulation were to wear away - DUH), only a few clamps installed backwards (still totally functional) from the drawing in the manual and the spacing of wire ties not plus or minus close enough to suit an FAA inspector with a woody that particular day.

It's amazing to me how, as time passes, the infractions seem to become more and more serious and take on an entirely new character than when they originally occured. Could this proposed fine really be payola for some upcoming "favors" (like ATI with BA and IB) from the government, providing more of the FAA's operating budget as a "Thank You" payment? Kinda like "Lobbying" being another term for legal bribery? ... sorta like tickets to the Policeman's Ball used to be?

Crandall would tell certain individuals to go straight to hell when roundabout demands for payment were made in years past. Evidently, the frat boys are trying a new approach.

 

[FWAAA]

It could be that we've victims of very poor reporting in the story I linked - but it does sound like the story keeps getting worse each time it's retold.

 

[KCKKen]

You know, now that I'm a FORMER commercial A/C mechanic (and damn happy, too!) I can comment on this whole fiasco, especially since I actually worked on this mod the first time.

It never failed to amaze me as to why in the blue hell the order was written the way it was. To catch some up with exactly the fuss was about, someone decided the wires (rather large ones) going to an electric hydraulic pump were not routed very well, and the connector had a retaining clamp on the back of it that caused some problems. Some college-boy genius (who I'd bet never worked on an aircraft a day in his life) decided that we needed to re-route the wires, cover them up and replace the retaining clamp ("backshell"). Now here's where the stupid starts:

First, you had to re-route the wires. Most of the time this made them too long when they got to the connector -- so you had to cut off the end, put new connector pins on them, and reinstall them into the connector. Also, in order to replace the backshell you had to take the pins out of the connector. So why didn't these geniuses just slide the protective covering OVER the wire bundle at that point? The material they used for protection is not designed to be slit lengthwise; if it was, you'd get it that way. Had they merely slid the sleeving over the entire bundle it wouldn't have needed so many ties.

I know at MCI the ones I did were right. I also asked about this idiotic approach (slitting the sleeve) and all I got was blank stares. Sometime later, when it became a big emergency, I mentioned it again -- same blank stares.

Reminds me of some lines in a song by a local band: "why'd they let the monkey go and blame the monkey wrench?"

 

[frontline]

The MD80 stuff last time was pure politics, I remember it well. Customers were not in danger yet they insisted on shutting our operation down. I smell the same thing here, FAA trying to cover its rear.

How will they explain it when (God forbid) there is a crash due to faulty maintenance at one of the overseas shops?

 

[FWAAA]

In a different article today, Steve Luis says there was never any arcing or sparks:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-sources-F...l?x=0&.v=11

 

[Bob Owens]

In a different article today, Steve Luis says there was never any arcing or sparks:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/AP-sources-F...l?x=0&.v=11

I agree with Steve Luis on this, 1/4" difference did not pose any danger and from what I've read and heard no incidents were, or were ever likely, to be caused by the discrepancy. While I agree that we should do things exactly as per the paperwork there could be a difference in interpretation, usually you wrap the chord around twice and the chord itself is around 1/8 wide, side by side that could be your 1/4" discrepancy if you went by the space from tie to tie instead of center to center ,but either way there's no way that difference would matter as far as the bundle being secure because the distance is neglibible and they are clamped and sheathed as well.

Seems to me that AA is getting all the attention because they are the only ones that do so much in house and do it domestically, which makes access easy for the FAA. I've worked for several carriers over my lifetime and while I would say that there's room for improvement the product that AA puts out is the best I've seen.

 

[Ralph]

Once again ladies and gentlemen, it has become necessary to delete posts and suspend a member's posting privileges. It is a violation of U.S. copyright law and board rules to copy news articles in whole or part from other sources without attribution or a link to the original article.

You may post a teaser quote and a link to the rest of the article. A teaser quote does not mean every word of the article except the last sentence. It means something like "FAA proposes $2 million fine against AE." This would be followed by a link to the source article. Nothing more.

There will be no further warnings. If you make illegal posts they will be deleted and suspensions may result.