Agency questions shift in procedures related to lightning damage.
Andy Pasztor, Wall Street JournalThe Federal Aviation Administration is looking into why American Airlines ordered mechanics to start skipping certain long-established safety inspections to detect damage to planes from suspected lightning strikes, according to internal company and agency documents.
The airline's decision reflects the wide latitude the AMR Corp. unit and other large air carriers typically have in adjusting safety standards without prior approvals from federal regulators. In this instance, American made the procedural changes and revised its maintenance manual in an effort to prevent planes from being pulled out of service, causing flight delays or cancellations that can be especially disruptive during the summer thunderstorm season.
The case also highlights the continuing struggle by airlines to balance safety considerations with their own need to reduce the time and cost of maintenance, pilot training and other big-ticket operating expenses at a time of soaring fuel prices and a flurry of airline bankruptcies.
For years, American gave its mechanics substantial authority and exacting rules for conducting the type of inspections now at issue. If mechanics spotted even a faint sign of lightning damage on a plane, they were required to thoroughly check the fuselage, flight-control surfaces and other parts of the aircraft for collateral damage before its next flight.
Last year, the airline switched gears. The new procedures, which went into effect in August, effectively bar mechanics from doing more than minimum checks on their own, unless pilots of an incoming aircraft officially alert them that the plane may have been struck by lightning.
Experts say that pilots, with their limited view from the cockpit, often can't tell if their plane has been hit. Historically, airlines and regulators have recognized detailed inspections by experienced mechanics as the best way to identify lightning damage and the potential hazards it poses.
American officials say the new procedures improve efficiency without reducing safety. In announcing them to its maintenance staff in a newsletter last summer, the carrier said its goal was to "establish a standard lightning strike" inspection plan that "will help greatly reduce delays and cancellations while ensuring the safety of our aircraft."
Based on the latest data from aircraft makers showing that some surface defects caused by a lightning strike may not impair the strength of the metal beneath, the newsletter said American also was looking to develop criteria "that will hopefully grant us some relief" from doing repairs in such cases.
A spokesman for American said, "To our knowledge, at this point, the FAA has no issue with our lightning-strike inspection policy."
Some regional FAA officials and other critics of American's moves contend they will cut the airline's margin of safety and could allow some planes to fly for months, or even years, with structural or other types of damage. "I don't think it's a good idea at all," said John Cox, an air-safety consultant and former pilots-union leader. "If any damage is discovered, it should be immediately and fully investigated using the appropriate industry inspections."
The regional FAA office that oversees Fort Worth, Texas-based American is asking questions about the matter -- the first step in a possible formal investigation, according to people familiar with the details. An FAA spokeswoman said, "There have been some concerns raised" by American employees, and "we are meeting with American to discuss the situation."
If the FAA determines American overstepped its authority in making the changes, the airline could face formal enforcement proceedings resulting in a civil fine and another change in procedures.
Modern jetliners are designed to withstand and quickly shed the huge jolt of electricity delivered by a lightning hit, and the FAA says no large U.S. passenger jet has crashed for more than 30 years as a result of lightning. Still, lightning can damage a portion of a plane's aluminum skin, and even create structural weaknesses or holes through which moisture can enter and cause further damage.
Lightning poses special hazards for the carbon-fiber composite materials increasingly used to reduce weight in the latest jetliner models. These composite structures, according to the FAA, are poor conductors and can offer as much as a thousand times more resistance to electricity than aluminum. That means they are more susceptible to damage.
Since the FAA estimates that jetliners on average suffer one lightning strike per year, dealing with the consequences can be time-consuming for carriers. Unexpected, full-bore inspections at the gate or inside a nearby airport hangar can take several hours on a widebody aircraft, wreaking havoc on flight schedules. So after assembling a team of engineers, mechanics and others to study the problem, American's management opted to strip mechanics of the power, on their own, to conduct nose-to-tail inspections. Now, most of those inspections are slated to be done when the aircraft is out of service for a major overhaul.
In the past few months, say people familiar with American's maintenance records, its mechanics have repaired separate cases of wing and tail damage from lightning. But they no longer have the time or flexibility to look for further damage.
With American's labor relations already strained, the new rules have emerged as a sore point with some unionized mechanics. In response to FAA queries, American has said that New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport seems to be the only location where mechanics have "heartburn" with the new policy.