This copyrighted story just came from the Seattle Times website.
For those of you keeping score: I blasted Alaska Airlines with an e-mail from Melaque, accusing them of cutting corners and letting bean counters dictate airline policy. Therefore, this latest revelation comes as no surprise to me. I still have not been able to get any substantive information on my own MD-80′s emergency landing (on take-off) at Sea-Tac on January 20th. The FAA says Alaska filed “virtually nothing” on the incident that most of us thought was our last experience on earth.
In case you don’t feel like reading all the way to the end of the article, here are the last two paragraphs. They refer to the fact Alaska is under criminal indictment for falsifying maintenance records at its Oakland, CA service center in 1998. This also involved MD-80s.
In the Oakland case, the FAA, in an administrative inquiry, has proposed a $44,000 fine against Alaska, saying the airline violated federal aviation rules. The FAA also has recommended revoking the mechanic’s licenses of three Alaska supervisors.
Alaska and the supervisors are appealing.
In the criminal probe, the grand jury has requested the records of 11 MD-80 planes that were inspected and repaired at the Oakland facility and other Alaska facilities.
“Thank you for flying Alaska Airlines — for the same price you’re just seafood!”
Hasta luego,
Jefe
Alaska Airlines places manager on leave over repair questions
by Steve Miletich, Byron Acohido and Eric Nalder
Seattle Times staff reporters
Copyright 2000, The Seattle Times Co.
Alaska Airlines has placed a top manager on administrative leave after 64 mechanics at its Seattle maintenance hangar delivered a strongly worded letter to company officials saying they had been “pressured, threatened and intimidated” to cut corners on repairs.
Federal Aviation Administration investigators and Alaska officials this morning began jointly interviewing the mechanics after the airline notified the agency of the letter.
Alaska also notified federal prosecutors and the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the Jan. 31 crash of Alaska Flight 261, which killed 88 people off the Southern California coast.
The letter refers to ongoing maintenance problems.
But according to mechanics contacted by The Seattle Times, it was triggered by mechanics’ concerns about a recent repair to the horizontal stabilizer and jackscrew assembly on an Alaska MD-80 jetliner – the same type of plane and parts that are a focus of the investigation into the fatal crash.
Mechanics interviewed by The Times said the MD-80 involved in the recent repair was only properly fixed after heated discussions.
FAA spokesman Mitch Barker said the agency was aware that there had been recent “debate” at the Alaska hangar over a horizontal stabilizer repair. He said the plane was ultimately returned to service in proper condition.
In a statement released early this afternoon, Alaska said as of 12:30 p.m. today, about 12 mechanics had been interviewed.
“The first question for each person interviewed is whether or not they are aware of an aircraft that has been returned to service in an unairworthy or unsafe condition,” the statement said, adding that so far no violation of a federal regulation or a safety concern has been uncovered warranting any action involving Alaska aircraft.
“Alaska will take whatever steps are dictated by these interviews, including immediately grounding any aircraft involved, in order that we all may have this assurance of safety,” the statement added.
The letter was delivered Thursday to John Kelly, Alaska’s chief executive, and Bill Ayer, the company president.
The airline didn’t release the letter, but a draft was provided to The Seattle Times by an Alaska employee Wednesday.
In it, the mechanics say, “Our consciences constrain us to make you both aware of an ongoing situation on the heavy check which we have heretofore brought before management in the hangar, but our pleadings have gone unheeded and have not stopped the following pattern of behavior.”
A “heavy check” is a repair to a key flight-control part.
The letter has stunned the airline, which is already the subject of a criminal investigation over alleged maintenance violations at its Oakland, Calif., maintenance base. A grand jury in San Francisco is investigating whether Alaska supervisors signed for repairs that weren’t done or they weren’t authorized to approve.
The letter specifically raises questions about the leadership of Robert Falla, manager of Alaska’s Seattle maintenance base.
Falla has been placed on administrative leave, an Alaska official and federal investigators said, but the company’s statement didn’t name him.
Falla drove up to his home late this morning, where he told a Times reporter, “No aircraft under my authority has ever gone out unairworthy or unsafe.”
He also said, “There is nothing I have to hide, and there is nothing Alaska Airlines has to hide.”
Falla said he had seen the letter and signatures but declined further comment on it.
The letter pointedly refers to the Flight 261 crash. “Amazingly,” the letter says, “in the midst of our grief and shock subsequent to the crash of Flight 261, many amongst us have been pressured, threatened and intimidated by Mr. Falla in the daily performance of our work.”
The letter, without providing specific information, alleges Falla “has directed us to do things specifically contradicting” federal aviation regulations, “not the least of which is his persistent demand that we put unserviceable parts back on the aircraft.”
During the recent repair of the MD-80, mechanics have told The Times, Falla told them not to replace worn parts on the plane.
In their letter, the mechanics said, “When confronted by groups of mechanics or by individuals, Mr. Falla cites his experience, but we have serious questions regarding his technical expertise and knowledge.”
The letter urges Kelly and Ayer to “personally address this matter immediately for the safety or our passengers, for the future of our operation as well as for our very livelihoods.”
“By our signatures, we signify to you that we believe him to be dangerous to our operation and incapable of releasing . . . aircraft into service in an airworthy manner,” the letter says.
It was signed by mechanics and inspectors over the past several days, said one mechanic who helped prepare the letter and signed it. It notes that the events since the crash “have taken their toll on all of us.”
“We are still grieving each in his own way and here in base maintenance, the effects are incalculable,” the letter says. “Let us state from the outset that paramount in our thoughts are the lives of those lost on Flight 261 as well as the flying public who implicitly puts their trust in our abilities as professionals to run a safe operation.”
In its statement, Alaska said, “These allegations . . . demanded immediate, decisive and direct action to either confirm and correct any such violations or assure ourselves, the FAA and our customers that such allegations and concerns are unfounded.”
In the Oakland case, the FAA, in an administrative inquiry, has proposed a $44,000 fine against Alaska, saying the airline violated federal aviation rules. The FAA also has recommended revoking the mechanic’s licenses of three Alaska supervisors.
Alaska and the supervisors are appealing.
In the criminal probe, the grand jury has requested the records of 11 MD-80 planes that were inspected and repaired at the Oakland facility and other Alaska facilities.