So, doing a quick search after hearing about a friend's recent fun on a flight......

 

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/travel/flights/2010-02-02-1Aairmaintenance02_CV_N.htm?csp=34

 

Has anything gotten better in the intervening four years?

 

Worse?

 

Any good info?

 

Steve

 

 $$$$$$$.  If all work is done by certified mechanic's and shop's and all the i's are dotted and t's crossed, the price of a ticket goes up dramatically and the public howls and demands an investigation. An aircraft has an 'incident' because of work being done by uncertified mechanics and shops and airlines taking chances, the publics howls and demands an investigation. Then, of course, they also sue. Either way, it's $$$$$$$$$$$$. Darned if I know the solution.

     Years ago, I was flying out of Albany Airport (KALB) on Allegheny Airlines (long gone), when they had trouble getting the forward passenger door closed, I was in one of the forward seats, so had a good view of the the 'incident'. I've long forgotten the type of aircraft. Long story short, it took a mechanic and a gate attendant pushing on the outside and a cabin attendant pulling on the inside to get the door latched. And away we went. Needless to say, I flew the flight (a short one), with my seat belt pulled so tight, I thought I was going to lose all feeling below the waist. No one else seemed to have paid the slightest attention to what had happened. Was it shoddy maintenance, did they violate some regulation?  I have no idea, but this was before the era of out sourcing began. However, I have no doubt that it has probably increased, but I don't see any major changes being made in the foreseeable future. It's all about money.

Yeah, that's sad.  I'm sure there are massive algorithms generating optimizations that project the maximum that can be spent to keep ticket prices to the minimum needed to insure sufficient passengers to stay within the .00012 micron line that is "profitable" at this point, or something like that, but at some fundamental level, that is all monstrous, in my opinion.

 

People should be allowed the training, time, life, certification, salary, benefits to do the job right within a system that provides adequate opportunity for full double-checking, cross-checking, reviewing and logical storage (I already hear the laughter.....).  Anything else is a long-term recipe for full-scale, comprehensive industry disaster at some point.

 

Meanwhile, I'm sure the airlines can barely hang in there with what they're bringing in.

 

Perhaps a few salaries at the top should be chopped out....... at least to improve air traffic safety.   And I mean at the executive level, not pilots or administration.

Theres a lot of pressure in the industry to keep aircraft flying, fitters are just not given enough time to to a slow methodical job, and sometimes not correctly check un approved fitters work. The suits dont see danger and risk, they see profits and time delays, and sadly not safety.  the mechanics arent being shoddy, its just them being pushed and pressured that leads to things like these stories, So many human factors have to be taken into consideration.