United Grounds 777s for Inspections

[jonjuan]

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080402/united_777s.html?.v=7

Wednesday April 2, 9:31 am ET United Airlines Grounds 777s for Inspections, Warns Passengers to Expect Delays

CHICAGO (AP) -- United Airlines temporarily grounded 11 percent of its fleet Wednesday, while it tested dozens of Boeing 777s to make sure components of a cargo fire suppression system were operating effectively, the carrier said.
The Chicago-based airline said testing will be done on 52 777s during the next 36 hours. Spokeswoman Jean Medina said 12 planes had been inspected and cleared to fly by midmorning.
The carrier has about 460 aircraft.
Delays were being reported in Japan and Hawaii Wednesday morning and the airline warned passengers to be prepared for other delays and cancellations as it proceeded with the inspections.
United, a subsidiary of UAL Corp., said a review of maintenance records showed a test on one of five bottles in the fire suppression system hadn't been performed. The airline alerted authorities.
The planes, which have a so-called "intuitive" self-diagnostic system that would have detected any malfunction with the fire suppression system, mostly fly international routes and from the carrier's major hubs.
United carried out unscheduled maintenance on seven of its Boeing 747 jets last month but found no safety-related issues.
The Federal Aviation Administration has been checking maintenance records at all domestic airlines after revelations surfaced about missed safety inspections at Southwest Airlines Co. http://www.united.com

 

[spitfire1500]

Security was doing a lousy job and the airlines had to pay dearly for 9-11 along with many employees...the FAA hasn't done it's job so now the airlines are paying again whilethe feds all run around trying to cover their asses.

 

[ASADFW7]

I had a Fed on the jumpseat yesterday who was talking a little too much about it. He even asked if our plane had been inspected. What I wanted to say to him and what I did were two different things. He said he has known this stuff has been going on for years, even talked about 30 plus guys from Eastern who went to jail for it. Heck that was well before my time. I just hate that it comes up in the cockpit when they are conducting a check.

I do not know if United guys get cancellation pay or not. It would suck if they do not.

 

[JoeMerchant]

This is absurd.....Hard to believe some want the same people who run the FAA and TSA to take care of health care......

:smash:

 

[Andy]

I do not know if United guys get cancellation pay or not. It would suck if they do not.

Yes, pay guarantees from the first day of the month were recently added. Outside of contract negotiations by the company with nothing from the pilots in exchange.


On a side note, I think that you LUV guys purposely skipped an inspection just so United would get hit with multiple groundings (this is the second one) for our maintenance problems.
But to put a positive spin on it, we're better than you guys because we skip more maintenance than Southwest.