Sky Talk

FAA: "No formal investigation" on AA lightning policy

I just spoke with FAA spokesman Les Dorr about the situation with lightning inspections at American Airlines, and he seemed to downplay the issue.

"The really isn't much there," he said. FAA officials do plan to sit down with American officials to review the inspection policy, but he insisted that "there's no formal investigation." He added that today's Wall Street Journal article "was a little dramatic."

The issue stems from a change to American's policy for inspecting airplanes after lightning strikes, which was implemented in October 2007. The new policy mandates inspections only when pilots report that a plane had been struck. Previously, mechanics had discretion to pull airplanes out of service if they suspected a lightning strike, even if none was reported.

The FAA was aware of the policy change, and had discussed the wording of the new rules with American officials. "We addressed those issues last year," American spokesman Tim Wagner told me. He said the airline considered the matter settled.

The issue arose again recently after American mechanics based at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York raised concerns about the change, and two pilots also complained to the FAA, Dorr said.

"The bottom line is, we're going to meet with them, probably next week, and talk about the revised policy," he said. "And that's about it."

- Trebor Banstetter

WSJ: FAA failed to perform safety reviews

The Wall Street Journal is citing a letter from acting FAA administrator Robert Sturgell that indicates the agency did not perform several recommended safety reviews over the past several years. Safety reviews were overlooked at Southwest and American as well as other major carriers, according to the report.

- Trebor Banstetter

AA had hoped to avoid cancellations

Officials at American Airlines said several times last month that they had tried to negotiate an alternative method to comply with an FAA safety directive - one which wouldn't have required the airline to ground its fleet of MD-80 planes and cancel 3,300 flights.

On April 10, Gerard Arpey, American's CEO said that "we worked with Boeing and the FAA to seek an alternative means of compliance and we weren't successful."

Now, American apparently is making that same case in a report to the Department of Transportation. According to a story in today's Wall Street Journal, the report says that the airline had a "handshake" deal with local FAA officials for the alternative, but were overridden by higher-ups in Washington, D.C. That rejection of the alternative method of inspecting the planes meant the entire fleet had to be grounded.

- Trebor Banstetter

D/FW traffic down in April, March

Not surprisingly, the last month's mass cancellations of American Airlines flights had a big impact on passenger traffic at D/FW Airport, which is American's largest hub. American canceled more than 3,000 flights nationwide after the FAA grounded its fleet of MD-80 jets for inspections.

Officials with the airport said this morning that 4.4 million travelers went through D/FW in April, down 12 percent from April 2007. It was also down more than 6 percent from the amount they had expected.

March traffic was also down nearly 8 percent compared to March 2007. The chief culprit there was bad weather, which also resulted in hundreds of cancellations, and the first round of MD-80 groundings at the end of the month.

The airport's revenues were about $1.1 million lower than expected, thanks in large part to the reduction in landing fees and other issues connected to the cancellations.

- Trebor Banstetter

FAA removes D/FW personnel

The FAA just issued a news release with its response to an inspector general's report on the misclassification of operational errors at D/FW Airport. This is the case that began with allegations from whistleblower Anne Whiteman, an air traffic controller, who said that D/FW-based controllers weren't reporting serious errors, including near-misses by airplanes.

Here's an excerpt from the release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today announced steps to strengthen the reporting system designed to classify airspace errors, in response to a report by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Inspector General (IG) that revealed the intentional misclassification of operational errors at the Dallas-Fort Worth Terminal Approach Control (TRACON).

In direct response to IG recommendations contained in a report issued today, the FAA removed both the facility manager and assistant manager at the Dallas-Fort Worth TRACON from their positions pending a final determination on possible further personnel actions; additional personnel actions may be taken. The Air Traffic Safety Oversight organization has implemented unannounced on-site audits at the TRACON, requiring monthly reports to the FAA’s acting administrator. Additionally, the FAA will accelerate deployment of the Traffic Analysis Review Program (TARP) — software that automatically detects losses of aircraft separation at terminal facilities — at Dallas-Fort Worth TRACON. The program will be implemented by the end of fiscal year 2008.

“I am deeply disturbed by the findings in this report,” said Hank Krakowski, chief operating officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization. “I am personally committed to making sure the IG’s recommendations are implemented and that managers are held accountable.”

Specifically, the IG found that management at the Dallas-Fort Worth TRACON investigated operational errors and deviations, but routinely and intentionally misclassified them as pilot errors or non-events. The report was prompted by whistleblower allegations that management was covering up operational errors and deviations. It found that between November 2005 and July 2007, TRACON managers misclassified 62 air traffic events as pilot deviation or non-events when it fact there were 52 operational errors and 10 operational deviations. The IG found no evidence of misclassification issues beyond the Dallas-Fort Worth TRACON.

- Trebor Banstetter

FAA chief apologizes for AA cancellations

Dow Jones moved this story this afternoon:

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)--The Federal Aviation Administration's acting chief apologized Thursday for oversight gaps that resulted in American Airlines canceling thousands of flights last week.

But under questioning from Senate appropriators, he cautioned that the FAA must not become too involved in every aspect of inspecting aircraft, and argued that a "partnership" approach with the airlines must be maintained.

"If we return to the 'gotcha' approach of decades past ... I think we risk driving these safety issues underground," FAA acting Administrator Robert Sturgell told a Senate panel.

- Trebor Banstetter

American Connection operator grounds planes

Trans States Airlines, which operates flights for American under the American Connection name from Lambert-St. Louis Airport, canceled about a dozen flights from that airport last night when it was forced to ground 24 regional jets for FAA-mandated inspections.

Trans States also contracts for flights with United Airlines and US Airways.

- Trebor Banstetter

AA CEO apologizes again, isn't critical of FAA

American Airlines' chief, Gerard Arpey, said Thursday he took responsibility for the grounding of the airline's 300 MD-80 jets this week, and he wasn't critical of the Federal Aviation Administration for ordering a new round of inspections.

"We're doing everything we can to accomodate our customers," Arpey told reporters during an early afternoon briefing. "We obviously failed to complete this airworthiness directive to the precise standards of the FAA, and I take personal responsibility for that."

The airline has 123 MD-80s back in service, Arpey said. Ten are awaiting FAA inspection.

American has cancelled thousands of flights this week after the FAA grounded the MD-80s for a second round of inspections on wheel well wiring, after determining that American didn't complete a previous round of inspections correctly.

Arpey said it was too early to know the extent of the financial impact, but said it will be substantial, and likely in the tens of millions of dollars. He said it's hard to say whether this will have any lasting impact on American's reputation.

Arpey praised American's mechanics.

"Our mechanics are absolutely not to blame," he said. "They are the finest mechanics in the world."

Arpey noted that American worked with Boeing to put the current airworthiness directive on the aircraft together.

The directive is "extremly complex" and not black and white, Arpey said. "In this latest recurrence, the FAA found we weren't in precise compliance, and we need to be."

In no cases have the inspections yielded evidence of chafing of wires, Arpey said.

He did not criticize the FAA.

"I am in no way being critical of the FAA," Arpey said. "The FAA has always held airlines to strong safety standards.

"The FAA is under their own set of pressures," he said.

What's changed in the climate?

"It would be fair to characterize as the FAA stepping up surveillance and doing their job," Arpey said. "I believe the FAA has always set a very high standard for safety."

Even though American wasn't in compliance with the FAA's rules, Arpey asserted the MD-80s are safe.

"Reasonable people in good faith can reach different conclusions on the method of accomplishing the goal," he said of American's procedures.

"I put my kids on these airplanes all the time," Arpey, a father of three, said. "Irrespective of FAA oversight, noone would put a plane in service that wasn't safe."

-- Trebor Banstetter

Lots of news this morning

We have a bounty of airline news in this morning's Star-Telegram, including our coverage of American Airlines' inspection woes and the impact it had on travelers at D/FW Airport. Also, business columnist Mitchell Schnurman weighs in on the labor situation at American with an interesting viewpoint - unions need to face reality about high fuel prices, but management also has to get over its "blind spot" when it comes to executive bonuses.

- Trebor Banstetter

Dallas FAA supervisor reassigned

An FAA official who oversaw Southwest Airlines in the agency's Dallas office was reassigned to duties that aren't involved with airline safety, an agency spokeswoman said.

Thomas Stuckey was head of the FAA's flight standards office in the Southwest region. "He is no longer in that position," said spokeswoman Laura Brown.

Brown declined to comment further, but apparently the decision was made following testimony at last week's hearing before Congress on the inspection lapses at Southwest. One inspector who testified at the hearing said that Stuckey had hadn't responded to complaints that a supervisor was too lax in his scrutiny of Southwest.

- Trebor Banstetter