FAA Orders Grounding Of Seven UAL 747s To Check Avionics

From Aviation News Nertwork www.aero-news.net

Inspectors Find Faulty Test Equipment At Outsourced Facility

This'll do nothing to quell the argument over outsourced maintenance for US airlines. On Thursday, seven United Airlines Boeing 747-400s were temporarily grounded, while personnel worked to determine whether cockpit avionics serviced at a South Korean maintenance station were in compliance.

The FAA ordered the jets grounded, according to The Wall Street Journal, after calibration equipment at the Ameco facility was found to be faulty. A source close to the matter said the needed checks require only a few hours, but added one UAL flight from San Francisco had already been delayed by as much as five hours.

FAA inspectors in South Korea reportedly found some of the equipment at Ameco wasn't properly calibrated, and ordered the airline to ground the aircraft. United's action comes two days after the FAA announced a sweeping "spot check" program, to determine whether airline maintenance facilities were properly complying with required checks and airworthiness directives. The agency took action following revelations Southwest Airlines failed to comply with required fatigue and rudder inspection checks last year, but continued flying the planes anyway.

United spokeswoman Jean Medina told Bloomberg the airline "found no issues" so far, and claimed no flights had been delayed or cancelled due to the checks.

It didn't take long for Teamsters President James Hoffa Jr. to link the groundings to the controversial issue of outsourced maintenance at foreign-owned facilities. "This just shows how risky it is to send airplanes offshore to be repaired," Hoffa said. As ANN reported Thursday, the Teamsters are actively seeking to take over representation for United mechanics.

Medina downplayed Hoffa's claims. "United's maintenance requirements and procedures meet, and typically exceed, FAA standards," she said in an email to Bloomberg. "They are the same no matter where the work is performed -- in the United States or overseas."

It's not clear how many United 747s may have flown away from the facility with erroneous altitude recording calibrations, or if planes flying for other airlines may have also been affected.

FMI: www.united.com, www.faa.gov