Wed, Mar 24, 2010
Several 757's Flown Without Inspections Required By AD
The FAA has proposed a $1.45 million civil penalty against
Northwest Airlines for operating a number of its Boeing 757
aircraft without proper windshield wiring inspections. A 1990 FAA
airworthiness directive on Boeing 757s required inspections for the
presence of undersized wires in the heating system for both the
captain's and first officer's windows, and replacement if needed.
Left uncorrected, the problem could cause overheating, smoking and
possibly a fire.
Northwest wrote maintenance instructions for its mechanics in
April 1990 that omitted the required inspection of the wires under
the first officer's window. As a result, 32 of the carrier's 757s
flew more than 90,000 passenger flights between December 1, 2005
and May 27, 2008, while not in compliance with the airworthiness
directive.
"Safety is the number one priority for the Department of
Transportation," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood. "The FAA
has airworthiness directives for a reason and carriers cannot pick
and choose when they want to comply."
On May 28, 2008, Northwest discovered it had not performed the
proper inspections and revised its maintenance instructions.
However, the instructions did not require the work be performed
before further flight, but at the next planned overnight layover.
As a result, 29 of the 32 aircraft flew 42 passenger-carrying
flights while they were still out of compliance with the
airworthiness directive.
"When an air carrier realizes that an airworthiness directive is
not being followed the problem must be corrected immediately," said
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. "Safety cannot wait for the next
scheduled maintenance."
The airline has 30 days from the receipt of the FAA's civil
penalty letter to respond to the agency.
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