Posted on 04/11/2008 8:09:26 AM PDT by Santa Fe_Conservative
ATLANTA - Air traveler angst was sure to continue Friday as American Airlines grounded hundreds more flights. The financial toll and loss of goodwill likely would grow as well, as the inspection-related mess spread further to other carriers and hurt an industry already bleeding cash thanks to high fuel costs.
Lawmakers were asking questions and some fed-up air travelers headed for trains. Others gave the airlines a pass, saying the companies were doing the best they could.
"If somebody's got a choice between being in a plane crash and being late, is there a choice?" Jane Bernard, a writer from New York who was delayed by at least three hours en route from LaGuardia Airport to Miami, said Thursday.
Mingo Valencia, a 60-year-old stuck at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport while heading home to Midland, Texas, wasn't so gracious.
"Poor management," he said bluntly.
Congress also weighed in Thursday. The Federal Aviation Administration official who ordered safety audits last month, Nicholas Sabatini, faced tough questions from a Senate subcommittee about the agency's lax oversight of airlines and his own accountability for recent breakdowns. The FAA noted that airlines had 18 months to check electrical wiring on MD-80 jets since an initial order was issued in September 2006.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I agree its poor management, not within the airlines but within the government who is supposed to be monitoring this.
no surprise that the govt is poorly run though.
He's got that right. Suddenly the FAA is not taking "no" for an answer, and now we have a crisis. Planes are not going to fall out the sky, or anything. But they aren't going to fly, either, unless everything is according-to-Hoyle...
Both... the Gov’t is supposed to check up on the airlines, but cannot (for any number of reasons, primarily ineptitude), and the airlines took advantage of it by skipping out on the various inspections, basically gambling with the lives of their pilots and passengers to save more $$.
The Feds, embarassed by the SW Airlines debacle, over reacts and disrupts air travel world-wide.
They could have had an inspector standing by at a hub airport, just waiting for an MD-80 to pull in so it can be crossed off the list.
I’m from the government and I’m here to help...
“and the airlines took advantage of it by skipping out on the various inspections, basically gambling with the lives of their pilots and passengers to save more $$.”
I trust the airlines much more than I trust the government to watch out for my safety. If the airlines have a plane go down its a huge issue for them.
“They could have had an inspector standing by at a hub airport, just waiting for an MD-80 to pull in so it can be crossed off the list.”
Most likely it can’t be done that way. Otherwise they would have done that in the current inspection process. Instead didnt they move the planes to where the inspectors were? They probably need tons of union mandated equipment. A simple ruler wouldn’t justify the enormous rates they charge.
But the reported inspections are not safety issues.
So if a problem is discovered .... IT AIN’T SAFETY RELATED.
Therefore, I doubt that planes would be falling out of the air - therefore the airlines weren’t gambling with the lives of passengers. They were gambling with the profitability airlines - could they do the work in a manner that would satisfy the FAA without hurting their bottom line. The apparent answer is NO - the FAA will mandate these changes, insist that they be done, regardless of cost or impact on the flying public, even if it is not safety related. (And of course - these costs will eventually be borne by the flying public in higher ticket prices.)
Why would one expect a nation that can’t even pull off an election is capable of sustaining an airline industry. As we degenerate towards socialism (and eventually protoplasm) I expect to see a return to outdoor toilets.
“As we degenerate towards socialism (and eventually protoplasm) I expect to see a return to outdoor toilets.”
I think you’re over reacting here. Everyone knows the best socialist states always have an indoor toilet for everyone. Of course theres just ONE so the line can get kinda long.
A choice between a .000001% chance of a plane crash and a 100% chance of being late is indeed a very real choice, which should be honestly evaluated.
I find it interesting that the airlines failed to perform the inspections within the 18 month window they were given, and somehow that’s the FAA’s fault.
What a novel take on responsibility.
Oops!
The government has responsibility for nothing - unless it's stealing more money from us through taxes, "fees" and inflation...
Actually, my point is that the airline failed to live up to its obligations. The FAA found out and is holding the airline’s proverbial feet to the fire.
The airline is responsible. They new the rules, and failed to satisfy them.
aaaaaarrrrghhh...
“new” should be “knew”
(k?)
Ummmmmm... Nope. The airline figured they could bull their way through the argument and force the FAA to accept or defer the airline's requirement to perform the checks correctly.
The stunt is the airline's failure to perform the checks within the specified period.
They are called "Instructions for Continued Airworthiness" for a reason, and compliance to them is required under the code of federal regulations (CFR) title 14. Or does the law no longer mean anything?
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