Senate wants to tighten up air safety at foreign service centers

Submitted by David Goldstein
The Senate debated aviation safety Wednesday, fresh off a spate of recent headlines about the cozy relationship between government regulators and the airline industry. A bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration would, among other things, modernize the air traffic control system, improve runway safety and increase the number of airline inspectors.

But another area that needs increased oversight is the FAA’s inspection of foreign repair stations, according to Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, a Republican.

The airline industry outsources about half of all its maintenance overseas, according to the FAA. Many of those repair sites are not inspected or certified by the agency and don’t necessarily adhere to FAA safety or security rules.A 2003 report by the FAA inspector general, for instance, found several security breaches at foreign repair sites.

The McCaskill-Specter amendment would require the agency to inspect certified foreign repair stations twice a year and perform all work on American aircraft at FAA-certified facilities. The bipartisan amendment would also mandate that certified foreign repair stations meet all of the government’s security requirements. "It is absurd to think that we are crisscrossing this country in airplanes that are serviced in facilities with no required standards and no FAA inspections," McCaskill said in a statement.

FMI: Kansas City Star