(The Washington Post published the following article by Don Phillips on its websit eon July 11.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As major airlines increasingly contract out maintenance, the Federal Aviation Administration must do a better job of overseeing private aircraft repair stations, which often fail to follow proper procedures, the Transportation Department inspector general said yesterday.
The FAA agreed with the inspector general’s recommendations and committed to new inspection policies that, if properly implemented, “will significantly improve safety oversight of both domestic and foreign repair stations,” wrote Alexis M. Stefani, principal assistant inspector general for auditing and evaluation.
Improper contract maintenance has been a factor in several crashes, including the May 11, 1996, crash of a ValuJet flight into the Everglades. The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the role of a contract repair station in the crash of a US Airways Express flight at Charlotte in January.
The percentage of maintenance outsourced by major airlines has risen from 37 percent in 1996 to 47 percent last year, the inspector general report said. The amount of contracting-out ranges from 79 percent at Alaska Airlines to 33 percent at United Airlines.
The largest of the majors, such as United, traditionally have done a large majority of their maintenance in company facilities but are beginning a new wave of contracting out to cut costs. But they say that most maintenance will continue to be done in-house.
Inspector general auditors reviewed paperwork at numerous FAA offices and visited 21 repair stations between February 2002 and March 2003. The auditors detected discrepancies at 18 of the stations. Some failed to use parts required by the maintenance manual, did not properly calibrate tools and equipment, did not have proper paperwork to show mechanics had the necessary training and qualification, and did not correct deficiencies previously identified by FAA inspectors.
The FAA agreed, among other things, to form a group to set up methods to spot trends in contract maintenance, develop ways to target inspections based on risk assessment, clarify policies and procedures on repair station surveillance, conduct follow-up reviews to be certain previous findings are complied with, and develop policies to be certain that foreign aviation authorities place adequate emphasis on FAA regulations.
Contracting-out has become a hot topic in airline labor-management relations as financially pressed airlines attempt to shave maintenance costs by shifting some maintenance to private facilities. Foreign repair stations are a hot button for the unions, and the inspector general’s report agrees that there are particular problems at foreign stations that must be addressed by the FAA.
Among other things, FAA inspectors typically are prohibited from making unannounced visits to foreign repair stations, and in some countries, the FAA must rely on inspection reports that are “often incomplete and incomprehensible,” the report said.
Even as airlines gradually moved toward more contract maintenance, the FAA continued to place far more emphasis on inspecting airline-owned facilities than contract facilities, the report said. It also noted that the FAA had taken no action on 1997 recommendations from the National Transportation Safety Board regarding repair stations.
“While these recommendations were made over six years ago, we found that the same weaknesses in repair station oversight prevail today,” the report said.