This is the lovely thing about government - a publicly held corporation has to take it in the shorts to meet a non-emergency ultimatum from the feds.
Cable tie spacing and wire clamps on aircraft wiring bundles are not emergency essential repairs for safety and could be performed at the next 100 hour check.
Instead, American is trapped in a PR disaster that is not necessarily of its own making.
Not if they were supposed to have been performed three 100-hour checks ago. AA made their bed, and their passengers are now forced to lie in it. Postponing overdue maintenance checks under the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness isn't the answer, IMO.
And top it off with more gov't interference, with Chucky Schumer telling both parties that the could have done something -- note that he offers no solution -- to make the process run more smoothly.
Yeah, more gov't! That's the ticket!!!
First, obviously, is to support the cable(s) during all anticipated g loading. It probably does not matter if the spacing is 1 inch, or 1.25, or 0.75... There is probably plenty of strength. Exactly 1 inch sounds like a nice round number for the convenience of the assembler and inspector, not an exact engineering requirement.
Second, is so that the cables don't flex, rubbing against other cables/wires in the assembly or any nearby structures and abrade through insulation. This requirement is there for the long haul. A few more hours flight time with marginal ties isn't going to make any difference. If you're looking at thousands of hours over the lifetime of the aircraft, yes, you want to minimize this effect. But a dozen more hops? I doubt it would make any perceptible difference.
I think AA got it in the shorts from the FAA. I'd have flown on any of those aircraft...