| Show "iTfr "w y tCf M' V1”' C : By Brign Barger United Press International WASHINGTON — Thomas Ac- cardi manager of the Federal Avia-tio- n Administration’s Flight Stan-- v dards Division in New York was aboard Eastern Flight 11 from New ( I York to Miami when the pilot abort'll ed the takeoff on May 10 1987 ! The plane had already been de-- layed due to required repairs on its bio 3 engine In examining the air- craft log book the inspector noticed v that neither the problem nor the re- -' pair had been recorded Accardi quoted the pilot Capt Thomas Cook as saying that maintenance personnel had discovered the problem and said they rarely log re-pairs as required Upon returning to the gate the pill lot entered a series of problems in the log he reported One item stated i that the No 3 engine “did not devel- op full power for takeoff” Another pngine he wrote was idling at 25 percent its normal idling speed Accardi said that following further work on the engines the pilot com-- y plained to the Eastern maintenance foreman Michael Drago that the en- gfnes had not been tested to determine whether full power could be obtained ' ) '“Mr Drago insisted that Capt fook take the aircraft with passen-ger- s aboard” and test the repair him-- ! Self the FAA inspector wrote But at Cook’s insistence the pas- sengers were deplaned and mainte- nahce personnel took the craft to test the engines his report said Accardi Said he asked the maintenance fore- -' man “how he could assure himself thgt takeoff power was now available 3 without conducting a power check of i I regulations to keep planes flying on schedule dozens of present and former Eastern mechanics and pilots have alleged Mechanics based in Miami Atlanta Washington Kansas City and Boston charged that the airline has resorted to a pervasive practice of “pencil whipping” in which their supervisors have signed off on repairs when improper or incomplete work was performed Sometimes these sources told United Press International the financially struggling airline has deferred repairs on items that directly affect the airworthiness of airplanes carrying hundreds of passengers Eastern officials denied such attributing them to union “scare tactics” intended to embarrass the company at a time when the mechanics and pilots unions are being asked to accept up to 50 percent charges —Tribune Fite Photo ! Mechanics who allege Eastern Airlines has pressured them into falsifying repair ' By United 3' 3 3 3 ' ' ( may not be recording all of the problems that occur in flight” and that “maintenance is being performed on EAL aircraft without being properly documented in EAL logbooks” On a return trip from Miami to New York the following week Ac- cardi again found discrepancies in Eastern maintenance procedures “Prior to takeoff” Accardi said the Eastern pilot announced he would conduct “a slightly abnormal proce- - dure” 3 t He said that as he taxied onto the unway and revved the engine the pilot told the passengers that the center engine “was not indicating properly" I Inspecting the logbook following tfie flight Accardi found that a problem with the No 2 engine had been written more than a year earlier and ’ ‘ ’ proper procedures and' clearing aircraft discrepancies” that Eastern maintenance personnel “are I placing departure schedules ahead of following proper maintenance procedures to assure aircraft reli-ability” that “aircraft flight crews ’ npver was fixed “despite repeated cr?w indications that the problem ‘ hhd not been corrected” - During a daily service check last airbus Oct 8 on an Eastern 0 mechanic Frank Dumford said he noted H safety defects in the aircraft including a fuel leak in the No 1 Engine and two inoperative brake f4ns H e said the problems were seri- ' ouk enough to ground the plane “ “ Dumford said he was scolded by his foreman Paul Higgins for enter-pi- g the defects in the aircraft logbook In a statement provided to con- gressional committees and UPI Dumford quoted the foreman as say-I- ’ in “Items of this type should be written on supplement sheets and not in the logbook" Dumford’s actions allegedly came - up hours later during a daily tele-- “ phone call between Eastern's vice president for line maintenance Wal- ter Callahan and maintenance managers and lead mechanics pthr mechanics later gave this ac-- l count of the conversation to congres-- l jidnal investigators: Calla-1- ‘ 7 - Foreman Higgins advised h'n “He’s writing up the plane 11 'items total so far” - T'‘What is his seniority date?” Cal- lahan responded - "I don’t know but he’s low" Hig- jins said 3 ’’That's good Well fire him” Cal-- ' laftan said “He has a seniority date of 1972 Hts name is Dumford" Higgins said ’’Get rid of him” Callahan alleg- jedty responded -- 1 -- ' part of the bolt and the plane was returned to service Hie FAA is investigating the incident attempting to determine why Eastern managers ordered allegedly improper repairs of the fuel leak and why no entry of the damage or the patch job was entered into the aircraft logbook or the maintenance computer Mechanics pilots and FAA officials agree that had the problem and the repair work been properly entered into the log the next flight crew could have questioned the work and perhaps declare the plane unsafe to fly “That is not true” Eastern Vice Press International Working the midnight shift at Eastern’s Boston maintenance station last May 2 mechanic Bill Gon-ea- u found a ftrel leak dripping from behind a wing slat Following procedures outlined in the Eastern maintenance manual Goneau recalled he removed the track housing for the wing slat to gain access to the fuel tank He said he discovered that a bolt holding the slat had broken in half and had ruptured the tank leaving hole a Using a small magnet attached to a wire the mechanic said he "fished about fo the bqjt but was able to remove only one part The other half remained lodged inside the fuel tank he said Goneau sarnie was Goncerned that the’ fragmented bolt would cause further problems He said that after consulting the Boston maintenance manager he pulled the plane out of service and went to work on the leak foreman then approached Goneau witnesses said and told him to patch the hole using a sealant called PRC Goneau refused advising the foreman that using the sealant was not an procedure for repairing a punctured fuel tank they said Goneau reminded the supervisor that’ a portion of the broken bolt inside the fuel tank had to be removed to avoid a recurrence the witnesses said “It wasn’t a safe repair" Goneau said “The maintenance manual states that sealant can only be used if the leak is at a riveted Vi-in- ’ ' records want to avoid tragedies such as the DC-- 9 crash In Denver that killed 28' Boston Mechanics Tell Stories Of Inadequate Plane Repairs the aircraft oDowing Sunday January 10 1988 A3 cords and flout federal safety V “Looking at his watch and com-plaining that the plane was already more than two hours late” the in-- 3 spector wrote “Mr Drago stated that the captain could determine this rather than inconvenience the pas-- j sengers and having them deplane” An hour later Accardi said pas- sengers were reboarded But he said the log book reflected “no additional entries to the original sign-off- ” I When the captain radioed Eastern management seeking the required I sign-of- f on the engine check Accardi '' wrote “I heard Mr Drago request - that Capt Cook personally sign off and ‘We’ll change the engine run-u- p our copy’ ” Af Cook’s insistence the foreman eventually appeared in the cockpit “and asked the captain what type of entry he would like injhe log book” i ' hisareport skid But the story would not end there Accardi said engine problems re- curred during the next takeoff requiring the plane to return to Airport where it was pulled from service : The chief inspector’s stinging rei- pprt concluded that “Eastern is not The Salt Lake Tribune By Brian Barger United Press International WASHINGTON — Eastern Airlines officials have pressured aircraft mechanics to falsify repair re- '4 ‘ ti il Eastern Flouts Safety Rules Allege Mechanics and Pilots Inspector Points to s Violations : 'fc Workers Say Airline Falsifies Logs IlCharges FAA jj ' w FAA-ap-prov- seam” President Steven Kolski said when asked about the incident He said he personally inspected the plane about a month ago and found only crack in the fuel tank a “No bolt went into a fuel tank” be said Another incident involved Boston mechanic John King who was fired last July after discussing ‘It Wasn’t a Safe Repair’ Goneau said work on the plane then fell to the next shift and the foreman noted the leak in a “turnover book” used to establish continuity among shifts of mechanics But a copy of the turnover book provided to UPI made no mention of the broken bolt Goneau said was still in the fuel tank The foreman scrawled “Broken bolt removed from slat track — need to seal track” The FAA said sealant was applied without removing the broken problems at Eastern’s Boston maintenance facility King said that on May 19 he found a running fuel leak on an Airbus a problem requiring the plane to be taken out of ser' vice The mechanic who said he had complained on numerous occasions to the FAA’s safety hotline about management's refusal to enter mechanical problems in aira craft logs seqretly conversation with foreman Higgins while observing the leak According to the tape Higgins at first reprimanded King for noting the leak in the aircrafflog A-3- tape-record- wage concessions The Federal Aviation Administration which in March 1986 slapped airline with a rethe Miami-base- d cord $95 million fine for safety and record-keepin- g violations is conducting a new nationwide investigation of Eastern Three congressional subcommittees also are exploring allegations against the firm Company employees most of whom requested anonymity said the episodes they have witnessed raise the specter of serious safety breaches throughout the nation’s fifth largest airline They related a litany of alleged efforts by Eastern maintenance supervisors to conceal mechanical problems from flight crews who under FAA regulations have the final authority to ground a plane as unsafe to fly Several Eastern pilots also alleged managers have coerced them to ignore safety concerns The pilots described receiving intense management pressure and in some cases disciplinary action for refusing to fly because they felt too many key repairs had been postponed Eastern Capt Don McClure said he was reprimanded and sent home for 10 days by Dennis Breeding the company’s vice president for flight operations after refusing to fly out of Washington National Airport be- - cause Of inoperative navigation: equipment Three days later after the union intervened on McClure's behalf the suspension was rescinded “Every man responds to pressure or coercion in different ways” McClure said “Every time you get a get two other pilots who will accept the plane” Steven Kolski Eastern vice dent for regulatory affairs in Oct 15 testimony to the Senate Commerce Committee asserted that no employees have been punished for delaying flights for “legitimate safety reasons” but that employees would be held “accountable for their actions” Kolski said safety remains the airline's top priority Company employees said there was no indication that malfunctioning aircraft equipment played a role in a near disaster Dec 27 when an Eastern DC-- 9 almost broke in half following a hard landing at the Pensacola Fla airport Federal investigators have focused their inquiry on faulty equipment in the airport control tower Pilots Complain But Claims Hard to Verify United Press International The Air Line Pilots Association branch representing Eastern Airlines pilots last March began a safety awareness program called “MaxSa-fety- ” in which pilots were urged to send postcards to the FAA outlining safety problems More than 25 pilots and flight crew members interviewed by UPI agreed that maintenance continues to top their list of company concerns and said their MaxSafety campaign began 18 months before their union contract is due to expire Addison Reynolds the FAA field office manager for southern Florida said most of the 981 anonymous postcards the agency received from Eastern pilots lacked enough specifics to conduct an inquiry “We investigate every complaint” Reynolds said “and I can tell you most of them end up being nothing” Reynolds acknowledged however that inspectors cannot always be certain that repair logs examined are complete and truthful In some instances mechanic reports to an FAA safety hotline contained incorrect dates or aircraft numbers In other cases mechanics surreptitiously photocopied pages from aird craft log books and conversations With supervisors to bolster their claims 'of improper maintenance procedures The International Association of Machinists representing Eastern's 6000 mechanics and 7000 ground personnel is now deadlocked in contract talks with Eastern Their contract expired Dec 31 Eastern mechanics reject suggestions the union is behind their allegations of maintenance improprieties but one veteran mechanic conceded that instances of alleged pencil whip- tape-recorde- A number of other alleged safety violations raised by Eastern mechanics could not be substantiated by UPI or by congressional and FAA investigators But mechanics said many of their complaints would be difficult to trace because problems were not recorded in the log books One Boston mechanic deciding what he called a series of mainte- nance shortcuts at the airline warned “You’ve got to remember once you’re up in the air you can't just pull over to the shoulder and fix something that goes wrong” Pilots and mechanics said Eastern like other airlines has been under mounting pressure because of pub- licity over consumer complaints about chronic flight departure delays Irked by the problem Congress passed a new law ordering the airlines to provide monthly reports on late or canceled flights beginning last September but excluded delays caused by mechanical problems Eastern also has been beset by labor tensions since its 1986 purchase by Texas Air Corp the nation’s largest airline company Shortly after the takeover Texas Air Chairman Frank Lorenzo announced he planned to seek major concessions from Eastern’s 40000 employees on wages and work rules This autumn 3500 employees were laid off Employees and union officials have expressed concern that Eastg moves some of ern’s which preceded the takeover have posed a potential major safety threat for the traveling public Nationwide FAA inspections at Eastern facilities in the months following the sale found 78372 violations of federal safety regulations leading the agency to punish the airline with a record fine Eastern officials stress that they since have doubled their maintenance budget But a recent FAA investigation into Eastern’s East Coast operations found shortages of spare parts “at all maintenance line stacost-cuttin- tions” And more than two dozen mechanat five Eastern facilities said supervisors frequently have urged them — even in recent weeks — to omit reporting the need for repairs in aircraft log books that provide a permanent record of each plane’s maintenance history Occasionally when problems are logged supervisors take it upon themselves to “sign off” on unrepaired items they said Bill Goneau who retired in October after 18 years as a Boston mechanic for Eastern said “Many times foremen have suggested I falsify entries in log books to clear items so the planes can meet their deparics ture schedules” Goneau and other mechanics said supervisors often ask them to record needed repairs on “supplement sheets” rather than log books which are kept in the cockpit and available for pilots to review during their checks Supplement sheets are pre-flig- not provided to pilots he said He charged that Eastern has abused the use of supplement sheets While the airline is required to retain the sheets for review by FAA inspectors he said “they disappear too frequently” If a problem is formally logged Goneau said a foreman has three choices “He can have us fix it he can pencil whip it and say it was fixed or he can defer the repair as a continued item” “Usually" he said “we were asked to state in the log book that an item is repaired when it is not It s upper management causing this making it a cutthroat environment to U — Tribune Ftle Investigators have not yet determined what caused a breakup of near-disastro- ping are difficult to prove “When we complain to the FAA they come over and look at the log book” the mechanic said “But chances are they won’t find anything on the majority of because sign-off- s log sheets are correct But the repairs have not been done or done correctly” In a related development four Eastern flight attendants were suspended without pay for 30 days on Dec 13 when they demanded to leave a plane shortly before its scheduled takeoff from Denver d complaining it had not be during a heavy snowstorm The incident occurred just a month after a d Texas Continental Airlines flight crashed at the same airport with the cause suspected to be ice accumulation on the wings rtWe were outraged” Nancy Currier vice president of the Transport de-ice- Air-owne- Workers Union that represents East- ern’s flight attendants said of the Photo the tail section of an Eastern Airlines jet Dec 27 as it landed in Pensacola Fla suspensions “Frank Lorenzo has gone too far this time The message they are sending is that we can’t raise safety issues and that is intoler- able” The incident eventually ended when after the flight attendants complained to Eastern management d and in Miami the plane was they Beginning Oct 1 a new law went into effect raising criminal liability for falsifying or omitting information in reports and records required by the FAA Such actions now considered a felony carry penalties of up to $10000 in fines and five years in prison In approving the legislation the Senate Commerce Committee issued d a report saying “The has reliance upon been tested by deregulation and the competitive realities of reducing costs to maintain airline de-ice- time-honore- “There is no assurance that certain overhead costs such as preventative maintenance will be covered by an airline through passenger ticket prices Airlines may have an incentive either to avoid disclosure of certain negative safety information or in extreme cases to falsify reports in which such information is required” Robert Reed Gray a Washington aviation attorney and former member of the Civil Aeronautics Board said he believes that Congress's decision to deregulate the airline industry in 1978 “has impacted aircraft maintenance” “Everything including safety has become cost accountable” he said FAA and airline officials point to the aircraft accident rate over the past decade which has not increased to support their arguments that the airlines are meeting their responsibilities in consumer safety work in’’ Another Boston mechanic said “Management doesn’t want us to record anything in the log books because they’re concerned the flighl crews might reject the aircraft” Mechanics said that repair work recorded on supplement sheets is only transferred to the log books if the repair is deferred “It’s become very difficult to do our work and keep the company happy and at the same time meet the federal regulations" Boston mechanic Frank Dumford said “We also have a moral responsibility to the 150 people m the back of the plane It's a difficult line to walk" FAA regulations require air earners to record all repairs affecting a plane's airworthiness as well as any deferred repairs in the log books But Eastern's Kolski maintained that the government does not require that flight crews have access to maintenance data While issuing blanket denials of any alleged improprieties Eastern management has taken the offensive trying to assure air travelers that “safety is our number one concern " |
