JetBlog! Interactive

Chunk Falls Off Jet Over Baltimore

BALTIMORE -- A piece of composite material fell off of a plane flying over Baltimore on Saturday.

Federal Aviation Administration officials said US Airways flight 1250 landed safely in Philadelphia after a piece of the jet's wing broke away and struck a passenger window. The flight was en route to Philadelphia from Orlando.

There were no injuries reported among the 180 people on board. The plane has been taken out of service while the Federal Aviation Administration investigates what happened. http://www.wbaltv.com/news/15682476/detail.html

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.

Hearing Will Review Death Of El Paso Airline Mechanic

Former FAA Inspector Says Investigation Was Cut Short

The tragic death of an airline mechanic on the ramp at El Paso International Airport has come under scrutiny, after a former FAA inspector said his supervisors at the time rushed their investigation into the matter.

As ANN reported, Donald Gene Buchanan was killed January 16, 2006, as he checked a reported oil leak on a Continental Airlines Boeing 737-500. The contract mechanic was ingested into a turbofan when another mechanic, believing the area around the engine's inlet was clear, told the plane's flight crew to throttle power up to 70 percent.

According to the NTSB Probable Cause report, Buchanan step into the inlet hazard zone as the turbofan spooled up from idle. The Board cited Buchanan's failure to maintain proper clearance with the engine intake during a jet engine run, as well as the failure of contract maintenance personnel to follow written procedures and directives contained in the airline's general maintenance manual, as the primary causes of the accident.

A lack of proper mechanic training by Continental, as well as the failure of the airport to enforce its own rules prohibiting ground run-ups above idle power in the terminal area, were noted as contributing factors.

International Focus on Aircraft Parts Counterfeiting

The Fourth Global Congress on Combating Counterfeiting and Piracy took place in the United Arab Emirates in February. 500 decision makers from 70 countries attended in an effort to identify solutions to the escalating global problem of product counterfeiting (of aircraft parts) and intellectual property piracy.

Michel Danet, President of the Fourth Global Congress, said: “Nothing has changed; counterfeiting and piracy continues to grow at an alarming rate and these fake products, which often prove fatal to consumers, are now being produced on an industrial scale.” Mr. Danet added: “We have to invent our own future; it’s time to take action and the time is now.” The group identified aircraft parts as a target of counterfeiters.

In the United States, counterfeit aircraft parts are often identified as a consequence of supply chain quality assurance programs that have been developed in the last two decades. FAA programs like distributor accreditation and SUPs training have been quite successful. Nonetheless, mechanics should continue to remain vigilant in their approach to aircraft parts in order to help keep the aviation industry clear of counterfeit parts.

FAA Guidance Highlights Foreign Issuance of 8130-3 Tags

What about aircraft parts that are already outside the United States, but that do not bear an 8130-3 tag? In addition to the changes to permit easier access to class III export 8130-3 tags (see last paragraph), the FAA has also added new guidance to implement the recent regulatory change that permits 8130-3 tags to be issued outside the United States.

Order 8130.21E change two has added new language to explicitly permit DARs to issue 8130-3 tags outside the United States. Before this year, 8130-3 tags could not be issued outside the United States unless the applicant had obtained a special exemption from the regulations. Such exemptions had been issued to a number of large companies. The FAA decided to eliminate this limitation in light of the wide range of exemptions that were being issued.

Under the new guidance, designees will still need to apply for geographic expansion in order to obtain the privilege of issuing 8130-3 tags outside the United States. This will require the designee and/or the 8130-3 applicant to file for a no-undue-burden finding with the FAA. Although the FAA has published parameters for making such a finding in the case of a manufacturer-applicant, the FAA does not yet have published parameters for no-undue-burden findings for designees who wish to issue 8130-3 tags for overseas distributors.

FAA Identifies New Sources for 8130-3 Tags

Many mechanics rely on 8130-3 tags to confirm that an aircraft part is airworthy before they install it – the tag has become an important part of the receiving inspection program for many companies. But the 8130-3 tag is not always easily available for new parts when the production certificate holder does not issue the tag. The FAA has released two changes to its advisory documents that are intended to make it easier for certain aircraft parts distributors to make sure their parts have appropriate 8130-3 tags when they are exported.

Under current law, certain Accredited distributors are allowed to apply to FAA Designated Airworthiness Representatives (DARs) in order to obtain 8130-3 tags for demonstrably airworthy aircraft parts. This FAA service helps to assure that the parts have the right documentation to meet most receiving inspection programs. But some distributors have had trouble finding a DAR with the appropriate function codes to support their needs, because of inconsistencies in the way that the FAA interprets the designee guidance.

FAA Headquarters has resolved these differences by making it clear that maintenance DARs with function code 32 privileges are permitted to issue export 8130-3 tags to distributors under FAA exemption 8696.

FAA Examines Repair, Alteration, and Fabrication

The FAA has created a Repair, Alteration and Fabrication Team (RAFT) whose mission is to examine current data requirements for these functions, and make recommendations about improving safety oversight in these areas. Areas of particular concern included DER-repairs, parts fabricated in the course of maintenance, owner-operator-produced parts and PMA parts.

The RAFT was formed in response to complaints from some companies that repair and alterations, as well as fabrication during these operations, was not being performed with adequate data. The RAFT seems to have concluded that most of these complaints are commercial in nature – the vast majority of the issues raised by the complainers were not, in fact, safety issues. In particular, the RAFT found that FAA oversight of PMAs appears to be safe.

Nonetheless, the RAFT has identified ways to improve safety oversight for fabrication activities conducted without production approval, and it will also be making recommendations about new ways to prioritize review of PMA applications.

Mechanics should be aware that the RAFT recommendations are likely to support current practices of DER-approved repairs and fabrication in the course of maintenance, so long as proper airworthiness-assurance steps are taken.

The RAFT recommendations are not yet final, so we should expect to hear more about their findings and recommendations in the near future.

Some question Federal Aviation Administration's oversight strategy

By DAVE MICHAELS and TERRY MAXON / The Dallas Morning News
March 16, 3008

Southwest Incident Exposed Flaws with Approach that Relies on Airlines, critics say

Nearly 12 years after the tragic ValuJet crash that forced regulators to reinvent their approach to airline safety, the Federal Aviation Administration faces new questions about whether its method of policing the airlines is working.

The FAA spent the past week answering for a regional supervisor's decision to allow Southwest Airlines to keep flying jets that needed crucial safety inspections. Southwest has turned contrite in recent days, with apologies to customers and a pledge to follow the letter of the law.

But inspectors say they've also faced opposition to getting tough with other airlines, an allegation echoed by a congressional committee that insists the FAA has gotten cozy with carriers. The FAA has taken a partnership approach to regulation, in which the agency relies on the airlines to self-disclose safety risks and de-emphasizes hands-on inspections.

"We're depending way too much on the airlines," said Linda Goodrich, regional vice president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, the inspectors' union. "There's a point at which you get diminishing returns," she said. "From our perspective, that's where we're at."

IRS Examining Tool Plans - Not Happy

The Internal Revenue Service has announced a new focus on certain Employee Tool and Equipment Plans, sometimes called Service Technician’s Tool Reimbursement Plans, that claim to benefit from tax-favored treatment as “accountable plans.”

To receive tax-favored status as an expense reimbursement arrangement, a “Tool Plan” program must satisfy several legal requirements. If it satisfies those requirements, then the amounts paid to the employees are excluded from the employee’s gross income, are not reported as wages on the employee’s Form W-2, and are exempt from withholding and payment of employment taxes.

On the other hand, if the “Tool Plan” fails any of the IRS’ legal requirements, the amounts paid under the arrangement are treated as paid under a “nonaccountable plan” and are included in the employee’s gross income, must be reported as wages or other compensation on the employee’s Form W-2, and are subject to withholding and payment of employment taxes.

FAA Meets with Southwest - Issues Press Release

For Immediate Release
March 12, 2008
Contact: Lynn Tierney
Phone: (202) 267-3883

Statement on Southwest Airlines
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Acting Administrator of the FAA Robert A. Sturgell met today with the senior leadership of Southwest Airlines. Gary Kelly, Southwest’s Chief Executive Officer and Vice Chairman of the Board, briefed the Administrator and his top safety executives on the steps the airline is taking to ensure its aircraft comply with all airworthiness directives.

Mr. Kelly updated Mr. Sturgell on the progress of reviews being conducted by Southwest’s maintenance staff and an independent group hired by the airline. The FAA is also conducting it own review of Southwest’s maintenance practices.

Southwest Airlines notified the FAA that, as part of an internal safety audit, they last night grounded 41 aircraft until they could verify with the FAA that they had correctly followed inspection guidance stated in an airworthiness directive related to a specific area of the aircraft surrounding the windows on 737-300’s and -500’s.