American Airlines cancels 40 percent of its mainline jet flights today

[marmar]

from Bloomberg:



American Cancels 850 More Flights for Jet Inspections (Update2)

By Mary Schlangenstein and John Hughes

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, the world's largest carrier, canceled at least 850 flights to reinspect jets grounded two weeks ago for the same checks on their wiring.

The schedule change erased almost 40 percent of American's main jet flights today and follows 460 flights scrubbed yesterday, spokesman John Hotard said. American parked its 300 Boeing Co. MD-80s after U.S. regulators found the carrier hadn't met a Federal Aviation Administration order over the wiring.

The cancellations added to the travel disruptions since the FAA began an industrywide safety audit in March. The agency acted after proposing a $10.2 million fine against Southwest Airlines Co. for flying 46 planes without required inspections.

``Everyone is bending over backward to make sure it's done right and it looks right,'' George Hamlin, managing director of New York-based consulting firm ACA Associates, said in an interview. ``What this results in is serious delays.''

At Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, American's biggest hub, the cancellations wiped out 251 departures, airport spokesman Ken Capps said in a statement. American used buses to ferry stranded passengers to San Antonio and other nearby destinations, according to a statement on the D-FW Web site.

American initially grounded the planes, which make up 46 percent of its main jet fleet, last month to ensure that wiring bundles met an FAA directive regarding how they secured in the MD-80s' wheel wells. ......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aa3wi5K.e6RU&refer=home

[DemoTex]

1. American says that this is not a "safety of flight" issue.

Problems with wiring bundles in the auxiliary hydraulic system of the MadDog-80s. Sounds like a safety of flight issue to this old MD-80 captain! Airlines don't shut down an entire fleet for garden-variety maintenance problems.


MD-80 cockpit

[marmar]

2. Thanks for the insight.....

..... I was once on a 757 that had hydraulic problems on landing. Even though the pilots, as you would expect, did everything to reassure us during the landing, they held all the other planes in the air and let us land, and the runway was lined with fire and foam trucks as we touched down. (Safely, thank goodness)

[mac2]

4. Me too over Detroit, MI

[mac2]

3. It's probably a profit issue.

It's cheaper to do them all at once.

The Congress is looking at them with a magnifying glass as to their maintenance, etc. Remember those wires were a problem in the past and they never repaired them...it seems.

Whatever their excuses you know the corporations all lie.

[napi21]

5. I agree! My son is a mech for another legacy carrier, and he's told

me that all of the carriers have been outsourcing many if not all required inspection to foreign countries. He's often complained about problems that were found later and the inhouse mechs had to fix them. I have no proof, but I have a strong feeling this outsorcing is one of the reasons for all these grounding and reinspections furing the last week or so. If I'm right, I'm just glad there wasn't a crash that caused all this newfound concern!

[bicentennial_baby]

6. Yep, my Dept Chair was on one of those D-FW flights yesterday...

He eventually got another flight to LaGuardia, slept at his daughter's house in NYC for a few hours, and flew back out at 6am to get back to Boston. And he even made it to his office by 9! That's dedication :)

[Parche]

7. PDX

They have cancelled every single flight from here today
5 to DFW and 2 to ORD
WOW
United must be loving this today......
:woohoo: :hi:

[DS1]

8. Hey Parche

I've been reading a sub book lately. Were you on the Parche, and if so, did you do any of the cable-tapping ops in the Barents or Okhotsk?

The book - http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/006103004X/kaedrin

[Parche]

9. Hey

I was in the AirForce,
But I am a history buff 1941-1945 mostly when the first USS Parche, the Commanding officer
recieved the Medal Of Honor..
:hi:





For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of this life above and beyond the call of duty as Commanding Officer of the USS PARCHE in a predawn attack on a Japanese convoy, 31 July 1944. Boldly penetrating the screen of a heavily escorted convoy, Commander Ramage launched a perilous surface attack by delivering a crippling stern shot into a freighter and quickly following up with a series of bow and stern torpedoes to sink the leading tanker and damage the second one. Exposed by the light of bursting flares and bravely defiant of terrific shellfire passing close overhead, he struck again, sinking a transport by two forward reloads. In the mounting fury of fire from the damaged and sinking tanker, he calmly ordered his men below, remaining on the bridge to fight it out with an enemy now disorganized and confused. Swift to act as a fast transport closed in to ram, Commander Ramage daringly swung the stern of the speeding PARCHE as she crossed the bow of the onrushing ship, clearing by less than 50 feet but placing his submarine in a deadly cross-fire from escorts on all sides and with the transport dead ahead. Undaunted, he sent three smashing 'down-the-throat' bow shots to stop the target, then scored a killing it as a climax to 46 minutes of violent action with the PARCHE and her valiant fighting company retiring victorious and unscathed."

[DemoTex]

10. Neither United nor US Airways has any MD-80s.

Delta and American have lots of 'em.