Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air safety inspectors found an overall adherence rate of 98 percent in conducting more than 5,600 audits of Airworthiness Directive (ADs) compliance at over 100 U.S. air carriers, Acting Administrator Robert A. Sturgell announced on Sept. 5.
He said the “very, very high rate of compliance is not an accident, not a miracle and not due to luck, but results from a team effort by government and industry.”
Compliance with ADs has been in the spotlight since earlier this year when maintenance slip-ups by Southwest Airlines and American Airlines prompted a congressional and public uproar. Both U.S. air carriers face multi-million dollar fines for aircraft maintenance and other safety shortfalls. (See related story.)
The 5,628 audits were carried out in two phases, the first taking place in March. The initial FAA report card found a better than 99% compliance rate based on limited spot checks of airline maintenance tasks.
The second audit was broader than the FAA’s first, which sampled only one-tenth of all mandatory safety directives at each U.S. carrier. The first included over 2,400 audits involving 42 aircraft makes/models at 117 airlines. The follow-up review included over 3,200 audits at 109 air carriers. The second audit also included visual inspections of one- third of the affected aircraft.
The first audit uncovered seven cases of non-compliance at four un-named airlines. The second found an additional 17 infractions involving 11 air carriers. They mostly involved improper record keeping or use of maintenance procedures without prior FAA approval.
All flightworthiness issues were corrected before the non-compliant aircraft flew again, and the FAA will determine if enforcement actions are warranted, either administrative letters of action or fines, as in the case of Southwest Air and American.
Sturgell offered a progress report on new measures put in place last April to make it easier for FAA inspectors to raise concerns and to strengthen ethics policies aimed at easing potential conflicts of interest.
The air safety measures are designed to: enable inspectors to raise their concerns quickly and at a higher level; toughen ethical standards for inspectors to prevent conflicts of interest; enhance airline safety by improving the clarity and coordination of directives issued by the FAA to air carriers; require reporting of voluntary disclosures to be made by senior airline officials; and, speed up the expansion of the FAA’s comprehensive aviation safety database. A new rule has been drafted that bars an FAA inspector from joining for two years an air carrier that the inspector previously monitored. Sturgell said the required “cooling off period” should be law next summer.