Judging from the posts I am guessing that none of you have ever been involved with the FAA's Civil Penalty process. Cases are compromised all the time. In a case like this (above $1M) it is handled by a US Attorney (under a mil is an FAA attorney). Justice Dept attorneys have heavy caseloads and have to also deal with a criminal docket that cannot be placed on hold. The US Attorney is at an immediate disadvantage becasue they are not familiar with airline maintenance or operations. On the other hand on a case like this airlines pull out all the stops and hire very experienced regulatory attorneys with strong contacts in DC and better experts. In this case just from reading about the proceedings in congress WN will be able to prove that they self disclosed and that the disclosure was accepted by their PMI. The FAA can't go back and say "well you should not have asked for a self disclosure. . . and we should not have given it to you". The FAA is trying to go back after the fact and grab attention with a big proposed civil penalty. While the $$$ sought in this case are high these cases settle all the time typically at 10-30% of the proposed civil penalty. Other cases get tossed entirely.
And, isn't whatever the amount agreed to, kept confidential?
I just knew that SWA wouldn't have to pay the entire 10 mil.
As far as certificate action goes....SWA is operating within the rules as established by the US govt....SWA knows this...as does the FAA