Burned out light bulb costs Comair $3K

[FL000]

Burned out light bulb costs Comair $3,000

Associated Press


Cincinnati -- Federal aviation investigators compiled an inch-thick file on a 1999 complaint about a burned-out bulb in a Comair plane's "no smoking, fasten seat belt" sign before the airline paid a $3,000 fine to settle the complaint.

At issue: a 77-cent bulb.

The government eventually concluded that little blame could be attached to Comair, a subsidiary of Atlanta-based Delta Air Lines, and reduced a proposed $44,000 fine to $3,000, which Comair paid in November. Without the settlement, the dispute would have gone to a hearing Thursday in Cincinnati before a U.S. Department of Transportation administrative judge.

An off-duty Federal Aviation Administration inspector aboard a Comair flight from Long Island, N.Y., to Cincinnati noticed the inoperative sign in the first row of the jet. The bulb outage meant that the aircraft was technically "not in an airworthy condition" under FAA rules, the agency said in a summary of the case.

The inspector notified a flight attendant, who followed Comair's regulations by informing the pilot of the problem. But the pilot failed to note the outage in the aircraft's maintenance log at the end of the flight, and Comair flew the plane four more times before recording and correcting the problem, FAA officials said.

The FAA proposed the $44,000 fine, saying that Comair could be required to pay up to $11,000 for each of the four flights with the burned-out bulb.

linky dink

 

[Typhoon1244]

Wow! I'm certainly glad this particular inspector took action. Who can say how many lives he saved?

Thank you, Mister F.A.A. Thank you from keeping those evil people at Comair from killing us all!

 

[LittleDeuce]

MEL?

Was is Chicken you know what? Yes.

But C'mon how about following procedure and writing it up per the MEL?

And he knew there is a fed on board? Helloooooo!

 

[Typhoon1244]

Re: MEL?

Was is Chicken you know what? Yes.

Yes, all your base are belong to us.

 

[dtzl]

quote:

Yes, all your base are belong to us.

____________________________________________________

Typhoon,

That cracked me up more than any other post in a long long time. Thanks for starting my weekend out with a good laugh!

 

[surplus1]

Re: MEL?

But C'mon how about following procedure and writing it up per the MEL?

And he knew there is a fed on board? Helloooooo!

Actually, this is a form of poetic justice. It should have been the full $44,000.

What you apparently don't know is that right around this time Comair took its pilots to court, accused them of making unnecessary write ups, and got a Federal judge in CVG to issue an injuction against the pilots, that essentially prohibited them from writing up discrepancies and threatening each of them on and individual basis for doing what the FAA requires them to do.

The Company failed to prove even one instance of an unjustified write up. Nevertheless, this judge, in a "Comair town", issued the injunction. He said that he was not going to allow the public to be inconvenienced by the delays resulting from these maintenance discrepancies.

Don't judge when you don't know the whole story.

It's a matter of public record, so don't take my word, look it up.

 

[DCitrus9]

Off duty FAA inspector, according to the report. The CA may not have known it was FAA. It still should not have taken four flights to fix. I can sympathize with one flight to a mx base, but anything after that is inexcusable, in my opinion.

 

[jetexas]

While flying with a maintenance issue is bad..

..What's worse is this FAA was concerned about a no smoking light while crews fly around after a long day with "8 hour van ride included to and fro the hotel is rest" overnights.

 

[Hawker rider]

I can sympathize with one flight to a mx base, but anything after that is inexcusable, in my opinion.

mmmm, that's really economic and realistic, repo an airplane because one of the fasten seatbelt lights is out.

That way the regional pilots will even start making less money than they are now.
this is just the rediculous state of affairs we have come to..

 

[jbud]

mmmm, that's really economic and realistic, repo an airplane because one of the fasten seatbelt lights is out.

That way the regional pilots will even start making less money than they are now.
this is just the rediculous state of affairs we have come to..

Try reading...........I think he said that he could agree with flying the aircraft with a discrepancy, until reaching a Mx base.