Well, let’s hear it for the whistleblowers. Their testimony last week before Congress must have put the fear of God in the airlines. American Airlines canceled over 1,000 flights today, with more to come tomorrow. All this is an effort to catch up on inspections that have gone undone and without notice until a few brave men found their way to Congress.
The testimony included allegations of negligence on the part of Thomas Stuckey and Douglas Gawadzinski. The whistleblowers testified that they have been threatened and ignored, and ultimately moved from one job to another within the FAA as a result of complaints about the two supervisors. I’m still perplexed that the two negligent supervisors are still employed by the FAA. They have been “relocated” to “none oversight” positions, but when your negligence has placed thousands of fliers in situations that at best could be called precarious, I believe that calls for termination.
Southwestern Airlines was the primary topic of the complaints, the airline picking up a $10M plus fine. But, it seems that American Airlines fearing fines and the wrath of Congress or dare I think the FAA, has grounded enough planes to cause the cancellation of a thousand flights on Wednesday.
Passengers on American Airlines found themselves facing confusion and long delays on Wednesday after the carrier canceled more than 1,000 flights, as its efforts to inspect and in some cases reattach wiring bundles in the wheel wells of its 300-plane fleet of MD-80s dragged on.
And, just in case you are planning to fly tomorrow on American, it is suggested that you check your flight.
American had inspected the wiring bundles and thought it had the problem fixed two weeks ago. But the F.A.A., upon looking at the planes earlier this week, found some bundles were wrapped and attached to the wheel wells incorrectly, and ordered them redone.
Well, unlike the previous FAA policy, it seems that the airlines have gone back to the old school way of thinking… Better safe than sorry!
It’s just a shame that it takes “an act of Congress” to get anything done.
