Jetmech41
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FAA relies on honor system
Colgan Air's maintenance records scrutinized in fatal crash investigation.
By K.C. MYERS and DAMIAN PALETTA
STAFF WRITERS
HYANNIS - Federal aviation regulators lean on airlines to police themselves in matters of maintenance and safety procedures.
Whether proper maintenance procedures were followed is a key question for investigators looking into Tuesday's crash of a Beechcraft 1900D, 100 yards off Point Gammon in West Yarmouth. The accident killed Hyannis-based pilot Scott Knabe, 39, and co-pilot Steven Dean, 38.
On Monday night the plane, operated by Colgan Air for US Airways Express, underwent regular maintenance to its trim mechanisms, which control the plane's equilibrium while in flight. The plane crashed into Nantucket Sound on its first flight after that maintenance was performed.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to make changes to the maintenance of all 154 Beechcraft 1900s in service in the United States, after the crash of a Beechcraft 1900D killed 21 people in Charlotte, N.C. The FAA is working with the National Transportation Safety Board to determine whether another order regarding Beechcraft maintenance is necessary because of the Cape crash.
But even if another order is issued, it can take time for authorities to make sure airlines adhere to the regulations.
Those investigating Tuesday's crash say they don't know whether the FAA orders issued earlier this year were followed correctly.
The NTSB and the FAA don't know because the FAA doesn't always require certification from airlines, or their contracted maintenance providers, to make sure government orders are carried out.
"The responsibility is put on the shoulders of the airlines or the maintenance company," FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. "It's in their own self-interest."
Cape investigation
Colgan Air continues to operate, and the company's maintenance workers who worked on the doomed plane are still on the job, according to NTSB air safety investigator Robert Gretz. Colgan uses the Beechcraft 1900D to carry about 200 passengers a day between the Cape, islands, Boston and New York City.
The NTSB has not yet determined the cause of Tuesday's crash. A full investigation will take six to eight months, Gretz said.
Before the plane crashed, the pilots reported that they had lost control of the 19-seat airplane. Gretz said the black box showed the plane took a 30-degree plunge shortly after takeoff.
Mechanics had worked on the plane's elevator cables the night before. Three parts of the elevator system were replaced, Gretz said. Elevator cables affect the plane's pitch, or up and down direction.
The procedures mechanics use to service the elevator equipment were changed after the Charlotte crash. That plane, operated by Air Midwest for US Airways Express, had also undergone similar, but not identical, maintenance days before the fatal January accident.
The NTSB's preliminary report in the Charlotte crash found that an incorrect cable adjustment in the tail caused the pilots to lose control of the plane.
Following the North Carolina crash, the FAA issued an "airworthiness directive" requiring all owners of the Beechcraft 1900s to report the results of an elevator inspection within 10 days after the Jan. 27 directive.
These elevators, located in the tail of the plane, were the first pieces of equipment NTSB inspectors examined in Tuesday's crash.
"The team that is working at the hangar, they are working on the tail first," Gretz said.
He added investigators would inspect every part of the plane, not ruling anything out for the cause, in the early stages of the investigation.
Inspections, audits
After the initial inspection from the Jan. 27 maintenance order, the FAA asked for no further certification to assure that the directive would be carried out.
The FAA directive stated that without proper maintenance the elevators could be "mis-rigged."
"This could lead to insufficient elevator control authority and loss of control of the airplane," the FAA directive said.
The directive required all work on the Beechcraft 1900s' elevator systems to be done by two mechanics, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. One mechanic is required in the cockpit operating the controls that move the elevator up and down, and one looking at the tail, where the elevators are, to see if they move properly, he explained.
This directive must be followed every time work is done to the elevator system, Peters said.
But the FAA leaves it up to the airlines to make sure it gets done.
"We cannot have an FAA inspector standing over every single mechanic, doing every little thing," said Les Dorr, FAA spokesman at the Washington, D.C., headquarters.
But airlines are supposed to keep detailed maintenance records on each airplane, Peters said. The NTSB obtained Colgan's maintenance records Friday and investigators said they would examine them immediately.
If the records show a violation of FAA rules, the FAA could fine the maintenance company or the airline, Peters said.
The FAA inspects every maintenance hangar in the country annually, Dorr said.
The FAA also can do random audits, to see if records and maintenance schedules are in order, Peters said.
The NTSB could take months to find out why the Colgan Air flight that left Barnstable Municipal Airport on Tuesday crashed into Lewis Bay three minutes later.
Colgan Air Vice President Mary Finnigan did not return calls for comment Friday.
(Published: August 31, 2003)
Colgan Air's maintenance records scrutinized in fatal crash investigation.
By K.C. MYERS and DAMIAN PALETTA
STAFF WRITERS
HYANNIS - Federal aviation regulators lean on airlines to police themselves in matters of maintenance and safety procedures.
Whether proper maintenance procedures were followed is a key question for investigators looking into Tuesday's crash of a Beechcraft 1900D, 100 yards off Point Gammon in West Yarmouth. The accident killed Hyannis-based pilot Scott Knabe, 39, and co-pilot Steven Dean, 38.
On Monday night the plane, operated by Colgan Air for US Airways Express, underwent regular maintenance to its trim mechanisms, which control the plane's equilibrium while in flight. The plane crashed into Nantucket Sound on its first flight after that maintenance was performed.
The Federal Aviation Administration ordered airlines to make changes to the maintenance of all 154 Beechcraft 1900s in service in the United States, after the crash of a Beechcraft 1900D killed 21 people in Charlotte, N.C. The FAA is working with the National Transportation Safety Board to determine whether another order regarding Beechcraft maintenance is necessary because of the Cape crash.
But even if another order is issued, it can take time for authorities to make sure airlines adhere to the regulations.
Those investigating Tuesday's crash say they don't know whether the FAA orders issued earlier this year were followed correctly.
The NTSB and the FAA don't know because the FAA doesn't always require certification from airlines, or their contracted maintenance providers, to make sure government orders are carried out.
"The responsibility is put on the shoulders of the airlines or the maintenance company," FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. "It's in their own self-interest."
Cape investigation
Colgan Air continues to operate, and the company's maintenance workers who worked on the doomed plane are still on the job, according to NTSB air safety investigator Robert Gretz. Colgan uses the Beechcraft 1900D to carry about 200 passengers a day between the Cape, islands, Boston and New York City.
The NTSB has not yet determined the cause of Tuesday's crash. A full investigation will take six to eight months, Gretz said.
Before the plane crashed, the pilots reported that they had lost control of the 19-seat airplane. Gretz said the black box showed the plane took a 30-degree plunge shortly after takeoff.
Mechanics had worked on the plane's elevator cables the night before. Three parts of the elevator system were replaced, Gretz said. Elevator cables affect the plane's pitch, or up and down direction.
The procedures mechanics use to service the elevator equipment were changed after the Charlotte crash. That plane, operated by Air Midwest for US Airways Express, had also undergone similar, but not identical, maintenance days before the fatal January accident.
The NTSB's preliminary report in the Charlotte crash found that an incorrect cable adjustment in the tail caused the pilots to lose control of the plane.
Following the North Carolina crash, the FAA issued an "airworthiness directive" requiring all owners of the Beechcraft 1900s to report the results of an elevator inspection within 10 days after the Jan. 27 directive.
These elevators, located in the tail of the plane, were the first pieces of equipment NTSB inspectors examined in Tuesday's crash.
"The team that is working at the hangar, they are working on the tail first," Gretz said.
He added investigators would inspect every part of the plane, not ruling anything out for the cause, in the early stages of the investigation.
Inspections, audits
After the initial inspection from the Jan. 27 maintenance order, the FAA asked for no further certification to assure that the directive would be carried out.
The FAA directive stated that without proper maintenance the elevators could be "mis-rigged."
"This could lead to insufficient elevator control authority and loss of control of the airplane," the FAA directive said.
The directive required all work on the Beechcraft 1900s' elevator systems to be done by two mechanics, FAA spokesman Jim Peters said. One mechanic is required in the cockpit operating the controls that move the elevator up and down, and one looking at the tail, where the elevators are, to see if they move properly, he explained.
This directive must be followed every time work is done to the elevator system, Peters said.
But the FAA leaves it up to the airlines to make sure it gets done.
"We cannot have an FAA inspector standing over every single mechanic, doing every little thing," said Les Dorr, FAA spokesman at the Washington, D.C., headquarters.
But airlines are supposed to keep detailed maintenance records on each airplane, Peters said. The NTSB obtained Colgan's maintenance records Friday and investigators said they would examine them immediately.
If the records show a violation of FAA rules, the FAA could fine the maintenance company or the airline, Peters said.
The FAA inspects every maintenance hangar in the country annually, Dorr said.
The FAA also can do random audits, to see if records and maintenance schedules are in order, Peters said.
The NTSB could take months to find out why the Colgan Air flight that left Barnstable Municipal Airport on Tuesday crashed into Lewis Bay three minutes later.
Colgan Air Vice President Mary Finnigan did not return calls for comment Friday.
(Published: August 31, 2003)
