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.

FMI: www.amfanatl.org