New Evidence of Aviation Security Gaps
Supports Mechanics' Warnings to Congress
When representatives of
the nation's largest aircraft mechanics union, the Aircraft
Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), made their latest round of
visits to Congressional offices in Washington last week, their
long-standing warnings about gaping holes in America's aviation
security and safety system got the full attention of their
listeners.
"With one or two exceptions, everyone AMFA met with expressed a new
level of serious concern about the vulnerability of America's
commercial aviation system to terrorist attacks, and to mechanical
problems caused by inadequate oversight of outsourced maintenance
facilities," said Ernie Kiss, AMFA's national safety and standards
director.
"We and others have been sounding these warnings for several
years, and the government has amassed some strong evidence, but it
took last week's news about the Homeland Security-FBI report,
combined with the arrests of illegal immigrants who were working on
aircraft with no licenses or certification, to really get people's
attention. They realize that although the airline safety record is
still good, the margin of safety has decreased and the system is
more vulnerable," he said.
News stories have circulated in recent days about the
confidential report by the Homeland Security Department and the
FBI, which concluded that more than three years after the 9/11
tragedy, America's commercial and noncommercial aircraft are still
vulnerable to terrorist attacks.
Last week, FBI and
other government agents arrested more than 20 undocumented illegal
immigrants hired to work on commercial aircraft by TIMCO, one of
the country's largest outsourced aircraft repair shops.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been repeatedly
criticized for failing to adequately oversee outsourced maintenance
contractors in the U.S. and abroad. A July 2003 report from the
U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of the Inspector General
noted that these repair stations are not only less supervised by
the government, but less able to enforce compliance on their own.
"For example," the report said, "(FAA) inspectors at one air
carrier completed 400 inspections of the air carrier's in-house
maintenance operations in financial year 2002, while only
completing 7 maintenance inspections of offshore repair stations
used by the air carrier during the same time period. During this
same year, this air carrier outsourced 44 percent of its
maintenance cost."
U.S. airlines are dramatically increasing the amount of
maintenance work they outsource to third party contractors,
including vendors in countries such as Singapore and the People's
Republic of China. This trend accelerated after 9/11, with carriers
desperately looking for ways to save more money as revenues
declined. Analysts estimate that half of all U.S. aircraft
maintenance is now outsourced to domestic and international repair
stations.
"This trend poses
serious safety risks, including the increased potential for
terrorist actions against aircraft, and even the possibility of
tying up wide-body planes needed for U.S. military mobility," said
Kiss. "These risks can be adequately addressed only through public
policy." He said a few commercial carriers, such as American
Airlines, continue to do most maintenance in-house to avoid the
increased safety and security risks.
David Campbell, American Airlines vice president of maintenance,
said in a February 20 CNN interview that "having control of this
highly technical machine...we believe gives us greater ability to
mitigate safety risks. When that airplane goes out the door, we
know what kind of quality has gone into that and we know the
workmanship that's gone into it, because we've had it from cradle
to grave."
Kiss said AMFA will be pursuing follow-up activities in
conjunction with some of the Congressional representatives union
officials met with last week.