European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 6, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Agazine How Safe is air travel in the u.s.? by Bert Roughton or. Cox maws service for six months disinfectant look eco from he to ill or the american airlines b-727the leaking liquid iric fed outside the plan and Ironie. On a Light from Dallas to san Diego in april 1985. Who 90 passengers aboard a chunk of ice entered one of the the mounted engines causing it to fati off near Tucson. Ariz. With two engines left the plane continued to san Diego where in inned safely. Many air safely experts believe hrs is Fust in example of the deterioration of safety Hal has occurred since president Jimmy Carter signed the airline deregulation acl in 1978. Deregulation is considered by Many air safety experts to be one of two giant setbacks in aviation safely Over Iho 10 years. The other is president Reagan s firing of 1 1.400 striking air traffic controllers in 1981. From which controllers themselves say the system never has recovered. Unfettered by Federal controls airline Schedwin has evolved into a Hallern of extreme peaks arid valleys which often tax Airport capacity saturate airspace and of cry Helni air traffic controllers. Bu1 perhaps More importantly deregulation a produced a climate of intense Competition that has forced even the o the Industry to Cut Corners on maintenance to remain in business. The Faa says in can Only Monitor the Quality of maintenance and the Agency since 19b4 has been More organised and vigorous in its inspection. The responsibly for the mechanical safety of the Nir Crali remains with the airlines. With deregulation Many airlines thai had operated Well above the Faa minimums Lof maintenance now Are operating Only at the absolute Legal minimums said John j. Nance a Tacoma wash., attorney and former Branch Pilot. Nance wrote Blind Trust which examines the effects of deregulation. In 1978, the Federal government suspended regulations thai set ticket prices and allocated routes soon new airlines with lower overhead drove fare prices Down handing several major airlines multimillion Dollar tosses. Some established airlines like Braniff. Went bankrupt. You can t even discuss How much safely to a if when the corporation is bankrupt. You be got to pc a the Golden Goose alive Nance said. Deregulation cont suied to Many of the Accra Tom that have occurred since 1978. Nance said ill Orno other reason the crimes that had the accidents Juc Las in the Case of an in 1982, would not even been in existence in thai place and that Lime without Nanca also blames the proliferation of new airlines for the sept. 6, 1985, crash of a Midwest express dc-9 in Milwaukee that killed 31 people and the dec. 12 crash of an Arrow air do a in Gander. Newfoundland that killed 248.bui Donald Engen. The Faa administrator says deregulation has had no effect on safely. Air planes Are just every Bil As Safe Loday As they were before 1978," Engen said. The major carriers and the regional airlines that Are doing the bulk of the tying Are All being compliant with Federal aviation Rufis. They re flying aircraft Juni As Safe As they used to. Nobody wants a Accident most of All an air Carrier because if an air Carrier has an Accident. Then Hoy lose traffic. Peop o won t Fly with Nance is More emphatic they the newer careers May be perfectly tet Ril but they Are a million Miles apart from a United or in american or a Delta or an airline that spends hundreds of millions in maintenance facilities and maintenance bases training bases and simulators and the Infra Structure of safety. When you re maintaining an aging Dg-8 out of the Back of a truck because of have no hangar you can t even be in the same since deregulation the major airlines themselves have spent less and less of their operating expenses on maintenance and employed Tower mechanics while the commercial Ileal has grown and aged. In 1974. The airlines employed 46,589 mechanics to work on 2,611 air planes about 18.5 mechanics per air plane. In 1985, the airlines employed 42.781 mechanics to care Lor 4. 73 air planes about 9.5 mechanics per Al Plano or nearly Hall the 1974 rate. Between 1978 and 1984. The airlines Cut the percentage of operating expenses allocated for maintenance from 10.93 percent to 7.6 percent. At the same time the commercial Fleet has become older with the average piano now nearly 12 years old. Aeronautical engineers by that alter 10 years of typical service most aircraft heels experience fatigue damage at an accelerated rate. Air Ifim contend me reductions in spending and manpower have had no Elfeel on safety. They say fewer mechanics Are needed than in the 70s because of improved manpower efficiency better preventive maintenance and aircraft design. It used to be that it look a lot More mechanics to do the Woik said Thomas Tripp a spokesman for the Washington based air transport association which represents the major carriers. It s natural thai As we have gotten better at our jobs that we Don t need As Many people set against the trends of reduced spending and manpower. The Faa s Force of inspectors has been shrinking in relation to the size of the Fleet lessening the government s ability to Monitor maintenance practices. In 1974. There were 753 Faa maintenance inspectors assigned loan air Carrier sleet of 2.511 in 1985, there were 674 inspectors watching Over a led of 4,473. The Reagan administration plans to beef up the inspector Force Over the next iwo years. The problem the Faa has is you just can t hire people and make them inspectors in takes Lime to get up to the efficiency level they said Edward Wood the director of engineering Tor the flight safely foundation in Arlington. A in an unpublished study the us. General accounting office has concluded that Faa s inspection program is inadequate " the program cannot adequately ensure the commercial airlines Are complying Wilh Faa s safely regulations do
