Ever wonder how companies make their numbers?

Cutting maintainance is a quick way to pump up profits...till the
planes along with the people fall out of the air.

One also has to ask where was the government oversight to insure
maintainance is properly done.

Maybe it will take Air Force One/Two falling out of the sky because of
poor maintainance for this Republican Administration to catch on?

TMT


FAA to check safety compliance at all U.S. airlines 1 hour, 51 minutes
ago

U.S. aviation inspectors were ordered on Tuesday to review maintenance
records at all domestic airlines to ensure carriers have complied with
safety orders and other directives.

The unprecedented but one-time step by the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) stems from alleged oversight lapses at Southwest
Airlines that led the agency to propose a record fine of $10.2 million
on March 6.

Over the next three months, the FAA wants a snapshot of safety
compliance with an array of safety directives issued over the years
that required inspections or other maintenance work.

Regulators do not suspect there are problems at other carriers similar
to the ones uncovered at Southwest, but believe a broader review is
merited as a precaution.

"One carrier's noncompliance with (safety directives) makes it
necessary for us to validate our system for overseeing your management
of this regulatory requirement," FAA safety chief Nicholas Sabatini
said in an e-mail to airlines.

Southwest allegedly missed deadlines to inspect 46 Boeing Co 737
aircraft for structural flaws in 2006-07, and flew those planes after
alerting the FAA about the oversight but before it completed the
checks. Small fuselage cracks were found on six planes and fixed.

Southwest subsequently launched an internal review of its records and
found another lapsed inspection for fuselage cracks. It immediately
grounded 38 planes last week. Four were found to have cracks, the
airline said.

The FAA action announced on Tuesday will require airlines with older
737s, like some of the aircraft flown by Southwest, to produce
inspection records for structural cracks. Other than the 737 mandate,
FAA inspectors are free to select which directives to review at each
airline.

The agency wants an initial report from the field by the end of the
month and a more complete set of findings by the end of June. The goal
is for inspectors to eventually cover compliance rates for 10 percent
of the U.S. fleet.

Congress has in recent weeks been sharply critical of FAA oversight
and is planning hearings next month. The House of Representatives
Transportation Committee, which triggered the investigation of
Southwest that led to the fine, is now looking into the potential for
similar problems at other airlines.

(Reporting by John Crawley; Editing by Brian Moss)