ATW Daily News

FAA proposes $9.2 million in penalties against US Airways, United

Thursday October 15, 2009

US FAA yesterday proposed $9.2 million in civil penalties against US Airways and United Airlines for violations related to federal airworthiness directives and/or the airlines' own federally approved maintenance programs.

The actions came as the agency appears to be taking a tougher line with carriers regarding violations of regulations and ADs. It announced last month measures to improve its response to safety issues, emphasizing that it no longer would refer to airlines as its "customers" (ATWOnline, Sept. 18).

US Airways faces a $5.4 million civil penalty for allegedly operating eight aircraft on 1,647 flights "while not in compliance with certain ADs" or its own maintenance program, the agency said. It cited seven instances in which US failed to perform required inspections or maintenance on aircraft it continued to operate.

In one instance, FAA claimed an A320 that did not meet the airline's maintenance program requirements for an engine repair continued to be used for 51 flights after the agency brought the problem to the carrier's attention. In another, US operated an E-190 on 19 flights "while the aircraft was not in compliance with an AD that required inspections to prevent a cargo door from opening in flight."

US said in a statement that the proposed penalty covers events "dat[ing] back to challenges we experienced during the integration of maintenance systems and processes [related to its merger with America West Airlines] on flights that occurred in 2008 and January 2009. Our team worked cooperatively with the FAA to investigate and correct any discrepancies to the FAA's satisfaction." It said it would "continue to work with the FAA in a cooperative manner to promptly achieve a negotiated resolution of the FAA's civil penalty proposal."

The proposed $3.8 million civil penalty against UA alleges that the airline operated one of its 737s on more than 200 flights after violating its own maintenance procedures on one of the aircraft's engines. In April 2008, the 737 returned to Denver after shutting down an engine owing to low oil pressure indications. During a teardown the following week, mechanics found that two shop towels had been used to cover openings in the oil sump area "instead of required protective caps" when maintenance was done in December 2007.

"We immediately reported the incident and our findings to the FAA," a UA spokesperson told ATWOnline "United Airlines has the highest standards for safety and we are fully confident we took appropriate and necessary measures to ensure those standards are met." The two airlines have 30 days to respond to FAA.

by Christine Boynton

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