Published 14 Apr, 2011
In a letter to the editor published in The New York Times, TWU International President James C. Little called on Congress to pass a FAA Reauthorization bill that includes robust oversight and uniform standards foreign aircraft repair facilities.
Read the letter:
William J. McGee is right: Federal Aviation Administration inspectors can no longer exercise effective oversight of aircraft repair, which has been increasingly outsourced to shops in foreign countries.
American Airlines is the only major United States carrier that still maintains almost all of its fleet in its own United States-based facilities.
Members of the Transport Workers Union who repair aircraft at American are subject to background checks, professional certification and routine drug and alcohol tests as well as regular F.A.A. oversight of their work. The public should expect no less of workers engaged in critical repair work on planes that fly hundreds of millions of passengers a year.
But there are no comparable requirements for personnel in overseas repair shops. The sad truth is, that’s one of the reasons most of the other major airlines are locating their maintenance work to other countries. They want to avoid the rigors of F.A.A. inspection and high standards of security.
Since the airlines are unwilling to fix this problem, Congress should fix it for them. The current F.A.A. authorization bill, now moving through Congress, must include language calling for routine, unannounced inspections of any aircraft repair shop that works on planes operated by United States carriers—no matter where in the world those shops are located. There are no tow trucks at 30,000 feet.