I wonder what are the odds?

 

http://www.huffingto...airlines-seats/

 

DALLAS — The federal government is examining two separate incidents in which passenger seats came loose midflight on American Airlines planes in the last three days.

 

American said Monday that it would inspect those and six other Boeing 757 jets overnight.

The Federal Aviation Administration said both planes had recently undergone maintenance work that required seats to be removed and reinstalled. American spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said an initial review found that there could be a problem with the way the seats fit into tracks on the floor.

 

"Out of an abundance of caution, American has decided to proactively re-inspect eight 757s today that could possibly have this same issue," Huguely said. The FAA said it is looking into the incidents but didn't provide many more details.

Boeing Co. declined to comment. On Saturday, a flight from Boston to Miami made an emergency landing in New York after three passenger seats came loose shortly after takeoff. The airline said there were no injuries, and passengers were put on another plane to Miami.

 

On Monday, an American flight from New York to Miami returned to John F. Kennedy International Airport after loose seats were discovered.

 

The incidents involved separate repair facilities and groups of American Airlines and contract workers, Huguely said. American flew engineers, crew chiefs and inspectors from its maintenance base in Tulsa, Okla., to New York to examine the planes, she said.

 

American had 124 Boeing 757s as of December. The eight being inspected use a similar seat assembly, officials said.

The 757s that American operates in the United States have 22 first-class seats and 166 in economy.

 

Airline and government officials discouraged speculation that the incidents could be related to labor-management tension at American, which is cutting labor costs and laying off maintenance workers as it tries to turn around under bankruptcy protection.

 

Last week American accused some pilots of conducting an illegal work slowdown that has led to a spike in delayed and canceled flights. The airline threatened to take the pilots' union to court.

 

On Monday, American continued to have more cancelations and delays than its rivals, according to tracking service FlightStats.com. But American's 17 cancellations and 61 percent on-time rating for arrivals were better than many of the airline's performances in September.

 

The delays and cancellations have annoyed passengers, but even the hint of mechanical issues could frighten them away and even threaten American's existence, experts said.

 

"These things can kill an airline," said George Hobica, founder of travel website airfarewatchdog.com. "With a delay or cancellation, you're sitting on the ground. (With loose seats) if the plane hits turbulence, people go flying."

 

Henry Harteveldt, a travel industry analyst in San Francisco, said that if travelers perceive maintenance to be lax, "passengers will start booking away from American Airlines in droves. This is very serious stuff. You need to get corporate security involved."

 

FAA officials said they have stepped up scrutiny of American as they do with all airlines operating in bankruptcy protection. American and parent AMR Corp. filed for Chapter 11 in November.

 

 

http://youtu.be/uYRdp-qyRd8

Talk about bad timing....this is the last thing AAL needs after the widely reported pilot slowdown last week. What are the odds indeed, both planes, assuming they are not the same 757, just happen to share similar routes, with the coincidental appearance of the replacement 757 continuing the Boston to Miami segment.

those 757's are getting older but are still my favourite airliner. Hopefully it is just wear and tear and not an employment issue.

 

I would still book on an AA 757 any day, they are awesome...

 

cheers

those 757's are getting older but are still my favourite airliner. Hopefully it is just wear and tear and not an employment issue.

 

I would still book on an AA 757 any day, they are awesome...

 

cheers

 

Would you? They have now apparently had a third incident!

 

http://www.boston.com/business/news/2012/10/02/american-airlines-flight-had-seats-come-loose/avpDCHapy0kOifu6yhMnlI/story.html

 

I can't imagine how the timing could be worse for all of this.

Looks like AA might wish to check for loose marbles w/in the ranks. I don't think I would fly AA anytime soon.

Unfortunate incidents, but wouldn't blame age of these amazing birds for it.

 

To me this whole explanation about seats suddenly coming loose on multiple flights sounds very suspicious, if they have been like that for years why would they all come apart during one day?

 

Either people who have last maintained those planes have made some kind of mistake or have done it on purpose.

Unfortunate incidents, but wouldn't blame age of these amazing birds for it.

 

To me this whole explanation about seats suddenly coming loose on multiple flights sounds very suspicious, if they have been like that for years why would they all come apart during one day?

 

Either people who have last maintained those planes have made some kind of mistake or have done it on purpose.

 

This is what I am thinking as well. It is too easy for someone to go in with a wrench and loosen some bolts. If this is the case it is unfortunate way to sabotage the airline.

 

Would you? They have now apparently had a third incident!

 

Definitely, I think now the best time to fly with AA if I had the chance. The best thing for that airline at the moment is revenue. I've flown with them since I was 5 years old and wouldn't want them to face another chapter 11.

I am sure this is due to an unmentioned resdesign in airline seats, which is now in testing (apparently on American). The seats slide back to let passengers in, then slide forward to permit a few inches of leg space for the passengers behind them. So some movement in flight will be normal for now on. However I understand some airlines will charge $50.00 per seat, each way, if passengers still prefer fixed seating.....................

 

John

 

:rolleyes:

Looks like AA might wish to check for loose marbles w/in the ranks. I don't think I would fly AA anytime soon.

 

There is nothing suspecious about this, it was intentional. Has anyone ever seen or heard of such a thing, I haven't and in my years of experience in the industry, never. I am sure the FAA will be taking notice, nice try AA w/ current "rational" explanation. I don't buy it..... :huh:

There is nothing suspecious about this, it was intentional. Has anyone ever seen or heard of such a thing, I haven't and in my years of experience in the industry, never. I am sure the FAA will be taking notice, nice try AA w/ current "rational" explanation. I don't buy it..... :huh:

 

Another plausible explanation:

 

"Bob" is hard at work inside the Boeing 757, getting ready to tighten the bolts on a row of seats that had just undergone maintenance.

 

Bob's wife calls him on his cell "Hey Bob, check out the pretty sunset!"

 

Bob exits the 757 to take in the sunset. Lost in his thoughts, his supervisor sees him and shouts "Hey Bob, your shift's over" get on outta here!"

 

Later that night, Bob's wife asks "Hey, did you get to see that pretty sunset?'

 

Bob says "Of course...something's nagging me though. I think I was in the middle of something..... Nah, must just be my imagination"

 

See, many reasons this might have happened, but the sunset was so pretty........

 

John

Cactus, I think you may be on to something :lol:

I suspect they will get to the bottom of it, Cactus is correct with his assumptions as well because the cause could be any number of things.

 

Bad timing but there never really is anything called good timing when it comes to these sort of things.

 

Cheers

The future is colliding with the present, that's all:

 

http://www.timco.aero/

 

Cheers,

Yet another incident.......... Emergency landing after apparent landing gear failure.

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/american-airlines-passengers-told-brace-crash-landing-maintenance/t/story?id=17382130

 

 

Yet another incident.......... Emergency landing after apparent landing gear failure.

 

http://abcnews.go.co...ory?id=17382130

 

Meh, I'm thinking that's just the media-spotlight effect. Have a look at avherald.com. There's several incidents a day all over the world. Most of the time you don't hear about them, now American is in the news so every tiny thing that happens there becomes newsworthy.

 

In other news, AA seems to be tracking down the seat issue:

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/american-points-to-saddle-clamp-for-loose-seats-377275/

 

Loosening the seats could get someone killed (seats are supposed to be crash-worthy after all), so I doubt a licensed mechanic would do something like that. There's quite a large step between taking an extended lunch break and doooiiingg yooouuuur joooobbbb reaaallllyyy slloooowwwllyy on the one hand, and active sabotage which puts people's lives at risk on the other.