ShaunCarter.com

I find it ironic, but not surprising, that American Airlines is attempting to “pass the buck” to the FAA for its recent spat of mass flight cancellations because of wire bundles in the wheel wells of their MD-80 aircraft. By acting as if the FAA is the one causing the inconvenience on air passengers rather than citing their own incompetence and laziness in getting required maintenance work done on their aircraft.

It’s true, American Airlines along with all other carriers, were notified by the FAA in September 2006(!) that they had 18 months to check over specific sections of wiring on all MD-80’s in service. So, why is the FAA safety official responsible for enforcing these audits being grilled in congress for these safety inspection orders being enforced after the grace period expired?

I think congress needs to keep their eye one the ball and begin issuing massive fines against the airlines that failed to perform ANY of the ordered electrical wiring work in the 18 month’s they were given to complete it. Had the airline completed the work evenly over the 18 months there would have been very few, if any, flight cancellations as a result. But now that American Air is canceling hundreds and thousands of flights at a time, the damage will be far-reaching and economically devastating.

So stop blaming the FAA, and put the blame where it belongs… on American Airlines and a few other airlines that failed to take the initiative to ensure the safety of their passengers by following FAA mandated safety audit instructions.

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