Posted on 05/18/2009 9:29:30 PM PDT by MamaDearest
News 8 Investigates: Airline mechanics who can't read English
10:03 AM CDT on Saturday, May 16, 2009
By BYRON HARRIS / WFAA-TV
News 8 has recently revealed serious flaws in the way the FAA licenses mechanics who fix planes.
There is evidence of years of problems in testing these mechanics. There is also evidence that hundreds of mechanics with questionable licenses are working on aircraft in Texas.
Now there is evidence of repair facilities hiring low-wage mechanics who can't read English.
Twenty-one people were killed when U.S. Airways Express Flight 5481 crashed in Charlotte, North Carolina in 2003. The plane went wildly out of control on takeoff.
One reason for the crash, investigators found, was that mechanics incorrectly connected the cables to some of the plane's control surfaces in the repair shop. The FAA was cited for improper oversight of the repair process.
Repairing airplanes is a complicated business. Airplanes have many manuals. Typically, when mechanics repair a part, they open the manual, consult the book, and make the repair step-by-step, as if it were a recipe book.
They make a list of every action they take, so the next person to fix the plane (as well as the people who fly it) will know exactly what has been done.
If mechanics don't speak English, the international language of aviation, they can't read the manual and they can't record their activities.
There are more than 236 FAA-certified aircraft repair stations in Texas, according to the FAA's Web site. News 8 has learned that hundreds of the mechanics working in those shops do not speak English and are unable to read repair manuals for today's sophisticated aircraft.
Former FAA inspector Bill McNease told News 8 he regularly encountered applicants for pilots’ licenses who tried to pretend they could speak English — but could not.
"When I was based in Dallas, I had that happen every week," McNease said. "It was not uncommon at all to have foreign flight students. We had mechanics, but I handled the pilot end of it.... and I turned down people every week because they couldn't speak English."
"There are people [where I work] who do not know how to read a maintenance manual as they are spelled out, because they don't have a clue," said one certified aircraft mechanic who works at a Texas aircraft repair station. He wished to remain anonymous to protect his employment.
To certify a part for flight or repair an engine, a mechanic must be licensed by the FAA as an Airframe and Powerplant mechanic, known in the business as an "A&P."
News 8 discovered that mechanics at one licensing center in San Antonio were being tested in Spanish as late as last fall. The FAA ultimately shut the facility down.
Supervisors in Texas repair stations say they are supposed to oversee the repairs of dozens of untrained mechanics who can't read the manuals and can't write down the work they've done.
But the FAA does not require every person working at a repair station to be a certified A&P. One certified A&P can sign off on the work of dozens of uncertified mechanics.
That creates a huge problem, another certified mechanic told News 8. "I need an interpreter to talk to these people," he said. "They can't read the manuals, they can't write, and I have so many working for me I can't be sure of the work they've done."
To be sure of proper quality, the supervisor has to either re-do the work himself or take the chance that no mistakes have been made. There is a push to get work out the door and planes back in the air. But when he signs his name to certify the repair for flight, he is legally responsible for it.
The root of the problem is money, mechanics say. A certified mechanic can earn upwards of $25 an hour in Texas. Technicians who can't speak English are often hired for less than $10, according to mechanics interviewed by News 8.
"I've been wanting to leave this company since the day I got there," said one certified A&P. "But with the economy the way it is, I've got kids to feed and I have to stay there. I don't want to be anywhere near one of those planes when it kills somebody."
The FAA is supposed to police repair stations, but insiders say the agency is more focused on looking at paperwork than inspecting the facilities. Insiders also say inspectors warn repair stations when they're coming. "In Dallas, most of them would map it out and tell them what day they were going to be there," said Gene Bland, a former FAA inspector. Safety, mechanics say, is at risk. "In my opinion," said one, "company owners should all be locked up because someone's going to die eventually, if it hasn't already happened."
Texas' two biggest airlines, American and Southwest, both require mechanics and the technicians who work under them to speak, read and write English.
But mechanics who work elsewhere — whose repairs often end up on commercial airliners — say their shops are filled with non-English speakers.
The FAA declined to be interviewed for this report.
E-mail bharris@wfaa.com
OK.....everybody pony up ten bucks and let’s get this FReepathon over....
Thanks.
Oh,great....my hubbies flying home from Charlotte, NOT on SW or Alaska Air.....this week...
I’ve flown twice in the last 20 years. Thanks, but no thanks.
Between the manners of the passengers and the TSA, I just drive to where I want to go.
You can bet that every breathin ass that has anything to do with BO1 speaks english has had extensive background checks etc etc.The guy they’re hauling around sure as hell didnt meet any Q test.
Well....he’s TRYING to keep his job and save the company money.....and driving between Oregon and North Carolina.....well.....you’re probably safer flying, now that I think of it.
Good Gawd...Jail those running this facility.
There are more than 236 FAA-certified aircraft repair stations in Texas, according to the FAA's Web site. News 8 has learned that hundreds of the mechanics working in those shops do not speak English and are unable to read repair manuals for today's sophisticated aircraft.
How dyou get from place to place?
I actually sort of yearn for the days when you could take a boat to foreign lands. Thats not possible these days, I guess.
Same here........ even installed a bed tank in the truck so I don’t have to stop and buy fuel on my road trips !
Haven’t flown commercial since the TSA was formed. Won’t unless it is life and death matter requiring me somewhere fast for family either.......
As a long-time FAA licensed A & P mechanic I find this really disturbing. I can comprehend illegal Mexicans picking strawberries but working on an MD-80?
I find this situation reprehensible. That the FAA has no comment on it, yet the situation persists is jaw-dropping.
IMHO this should be on the front page of every newspaper, given the number of people who fly on those aircraft frequently, or even no so frequently. It's definitely something I'd want to know before I made airline reservations to anywhere. Even more distressing is that there is no mention of outrage or resolution. For all we know, it persists to this very day by most major airline carriers who use Texas airline facilities. It's not reassuring news at all!!!!!
Once again Southwest Airlines comes out way ahead of the rest in a very good way.
It's an outrage. Frankly it's just as mind numbing as the multitudes of drivers who do not speak or read a word of English using US highways to get to their next job. What in the heck is wrong with the FAA in permitting this?
Very scary stuff, I agree. You know, they'll do everything they can to keep this off the front pages.
Is the FAA a government agency shill or middleman for businesses that can't get enough cheap labor? Surely the pool of unemployed mechanics fluent in English could produce workers capable of reading instruction manuals. There is a point where corporations attempting to scrimp are going to be held liable for what happens when things go very wrong because they were penny cheap and pound foolish. The question is: how many people will die due to their negligence before they are held to account?
You forgot to mention the pirates.
Yep, it’ll be like everything else that advances the left even when to the detriment of safety of citizens, it’ll just be ignored until it passes off the radar and the next thing comes up. There’s so many such things that stem from the left’s policies, you can’t keep up. They count on that, and the sheer number of things like this, so many that people get overwhelmed and can’t keep track. It’s like trying to put out thousands of fires, just can’t be done.
Must not comment.
I can’t read english.
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