jetdawgg
04-04-08, 10:44 AM
Guess what, the outsourced facilities and workers DO NOT have to be certified by the FAA. Feeling safe now?
This is one industry that I didn't know was outsourced, sighhhh. I used to know several Jet mechanics at Lambert Airfield. They weren't rich but they lived in nice, little ranch style homes or apartments.
I'm sick to tears of all these corporations sending our jobs overseas. Then they want us to still support their products or airlines. No more!
Susoni
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Outsourcing Becomes Focal Point In Aircraft-Safety Debate
The growing percentage of maintenance work that has been outsourced by U.S. airlines has become a focal point in the debate over whether proper procedures are in place to ensure aircraft safety.
In what has become a hot-button issue in recent weeks, the Federal Aviation Administration is taking a closer look at how it regulates aircraft maintenance at U.S. airlines. Congress on Thursday will hold hearings to review issues around the safety and security of outsourcing.
Many U.S. airlines have increased outsourcing over the past several years to cut maintenance costs. But concerns are mounting that monitoring of that work isn't sufficient, particularly when work is done outside the U.S.
FAA regulations haven't kept pace with the work that is being sent overseas, critics say. Currently there are about 700 FAA-certified foreign repair facilities in far-flung locations like South Korea and El Salvador. The FAA monitors all maintenance programs, but relies on airlines to conduct detailed audits of the facilities.
In an example of the growing importance of the issue, the Business Travel Coalition found that among more than 1,000 travel professionals surveyed this week, more than half said they would find it useful to have information on where airlines' maintenance is performed. Nearly 70% said they would book tickets on an airline that maintained its aircraft at its own facilities, with FAA- certified mechanics and FAA oversight, over another airline that outsourced its aircraft maintenance.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, between 1996 and 2006, airlines increased the percentage of outsourced maintenance to 64% from 37%. In 2006, $3.7 billion went to third-party maintenance providers, of a total $5.7 billion spent on maintenance.
Airlines currently aren't required to give regulators very specific information about the vendors who do their maintenance work. Mechanics at foreign facilities are trained by the airlines, but don't have to be certified by the FAA.
Airlines vary in how much outsourcing they do. Low-cost Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV), which was recently fined $10.2 million by the FAA for safety lapses, has always hired others to perform maintenance on its planes. United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp. (UAUA), recently has increased its outsourcing. American Airlines, part of AMR Corp. (AMR), and Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) do their maintenance in-house, and bring in work from other airlines.
But that won't ease the concerns of officials like James Oberstar, D-Minn., head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that will hear testimony on Thursday. Oberstar has criticized what he called the FAA's "lax attitude" toward the airlines it oversees, and has said he may support legislation to stiffen the FAA's safety-inspection program.
According to Bob Mann, a consultant and former Boeing 747 pilot, it makes sense to update FAA oversight policies, given the rapid growth of new maintenance facilities. "Inspectors can't hover over every mechanic," he said. But the FAA can put systems in place that assure regular reviews of maintenance activities.
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=121768
This is one industry that I didn't know was outsourced, sighhhh. I used to know several Jet mechanics at Lambert Airfield. They weren't rich but they lived in nice, little ranch style homes or apartments.
I'm sick to tears of all these corporations sending our jobs overseas. Then they want us to still support their products or airlines. No more!
Susoni
************************************************** ****
Outsourcing Becomes Focal Point In Aircraft-Safety Debate
The growing percentage of maintenance work that has been outsourced by U.S. airlines has become a focal point in the debate over whether proper procedures are in place to ensure aircraft safety.
In what has become a hot-button issue in recent weeks, the Federal Aviation Administration is taking a closer look at how it regulates aircraft maintenance at U.S. airlines. Congress on Thursday will hold hearings to review issues around the safety and security of outsourcing.
Many U.S. airlines have increased outsourcing over the past several years to cut maintenance costs. But concerns are mounting that monitoring of that work isn't sufficient, particularly when work is done outside the U.S.
FAA regulations haven't kept pace with the work that is being sent overseas, critics say. Currently there are about 700 FAA-certified foreign repair facilities in far-flung locations like South Korea and El Salvador. The FAA monitors all maintenance programs, but relies on airlines to conduct detailed audits of the facilities.
In an example of the growing importance of the issue, the Business Travel Coalition found that among more than 1,000 travel professionals surveyed this week, more than half said they would find it useful to have information on where airlines' maintenance is performed. Nearly 70% said they would book tickets on an airline that maintained its aircraft at its own facilities, with FAA- certified mechanics and FAA oversight, over another airline that outsourced its aircraft maintenance.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, between 1996 and 2006, airlines increased the percentage of outsourced maintenance to 64% from 37%. In 2006, $3.7 billion went to third-party maintenance providers, of a total $5.7 billion spent on maintenance.
Airlines currently aren't required to give regulators very specific information about the vendors who do their maintenance work. Mechanics at foreign facilities are trained by the airlines, but don't have to be certified by the FAA.
Airlines vary in how much outsourcing they do. Low-cost Southwest Airlines Co. (LUV), which was recently fined $10.2 million by the FAA for safety lapses, has always hired others to perform maintenance on its planes. United Airlines, a unit of UAL Corp. (UAUA), recently has increased its outsourcing. American Airlines, part of AMR Corp. (AMR), and Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) do their maintenance in-house, and bring in work from other airlines.
But that won't ease the concerns of officials like James Oberstar, D-Minn., head of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that will hear testimony on Thursday. Oberstar has criticized what he called the FAA's "lax attitude" toward the airlines it oversees, and has said he may support legislation to stiffen the FAA's safety-inspection program.
According to Bob Mann, a consultant and former Boeing 747 pilot, it makes sense to update FAA oversight policies, given the rapid growth of new maintenance facilities. "Inspectors can't hover over every mechanic," he said. But the FAA can put systems in place that assure regular reviews of maintenance activities.
http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=121768