Southwest, le modéle US du low cost sanctionné

[flyrelax]

la 'mère' et le modèle mondial de toutes les lowcost se fait épingler par la FAA et reçoit une amende record de 10 millions de dollars pour un certain nombre de manquements à la maintenance : préoccupant, non ?


quote PPRune

FAA proposes record $10 mln fine for Southwest Air

"WASHINGTON, March 6 (Reuters) - U.S. aviation regulators on Thursday proposed a $10.2 million fine against Southwest Airlines Co, the largest safety penalty ever, for allegedly failing to inspect planes for structural cracks.


The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Southwest continued to fly uninspected aircraft even after the carrier notified the agency that it had missed a mandatory deadline to complete fuselage inspections on older aircraft.


Southwest flies only Boeing Co 737 planes and the inspection program was part of an FAA initiative to more closely examine structural fatigue in older planes.


The FAA said Southwest operated 46 planes on nearly 60,000 flights while "failing to comply" with a requirement for repeat inspections.
It continued to operate the same planes on more than 1,400 additional flights after discovering in March 2007 that it missed the inspection deadline, the FAA said. This deliberate breach, the FAA said, prompted the stiff fine...."

source Reuters

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsN ... 306?rpc=44

[JumpSeat]

Bien sur que c'est préoccupant, cela dit la faute à qui ?
Aux compagnies qui ont habitué les gens a payer de moins en moins pour voyager (sauf les destinations sans concurrence bien sur).
Alors la maintenance est le point de compression favori...

[opslady]

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Southwest continued to fly uninspected aircraft even after the carrier notified the agency that it had missed a mandatory deadline to complete fuselage inspections on older aircraft.

Ce que l'on ne dit pas sur l'article, mais ce qui est annonce sur les nouvelles ici, c'est que la FAA, une fois informee du manque d'inspections par Southwest, a donne son accord pour continuer a exploiter les avions .
Je n'ai pas entendu parler de la 'date limite' accordee par la F.A.A.

Il y a plus que Southwest qui est fautif ici..il y a la F.A.A. qui en etait au courant depuis un bon moment..presqu'un an.

Certains employees de la FAA (proteges sous ls loi des "whistle-blowers" soit ceux qui racontent des anomalies au boulot)
confirment que la FAA en etait au courant:

"Southwest Airlines discovered the missed inspection area, disclosed it to the FAA, and promptly reinspected all potentially affected aircraft in March 2007. The FAA approved our actions and considered the matter closed as of April 2007."
The documents obtained by CNN allege that some management officials at the FAA, the agency responsible for commercial air safety, knew the planes were flying "unsafely" and did nothing about it. CNN's Drew Griffin uncovers 'troubling information' »

...He said both FAA managers and the airline may also have broken the law as well as threatened the safety of Southwest passengers."
..The documents were prepared by two FAA safety inspectors who have requested whistle-blower status from the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is headed by Oberstar.

The two inspectors have been subpoenaed to testify before the committee. The nation's "Whistle-Blower Protection Program" protects federal employees from being fired or retaliated against by their employer.

The inspectors say FAA managers knew about the lapse in safety at Southwest, but decided to allow the airline to conduct the safety checks on a slower schedule because taking "aircraft out of service would have disrupted Southwest Airlines' flight schedule."
According to statements made by one of the FAA inspectors seeking whistle-blower status, a manager at the FAA "permitted the operation of these unsafe aircraft in a matter that would provide relief" to the airline, even though customers were on board.

Laura Brown, an FAA spokeswoman, told CNN that the administration has taken action and that a supervisor who was in charge of overseeing Southwest is "no longer in a supervisory position."

The FAA's announcement that it would seek civil penalties against Southwest came after news of the congressional reports became public. Watch passengers react to the violations »

a lire CNN

Encore une des "Folies de la FAA?" (un autre forum)

[Luc Lion]

J'aime bien le terme "whistleblower" !
Cela a un petit côté poétique.

Les politiques savent toujours faire resurgir la partie poétique de leur imagination lorsqu'ils doivent faire passer des idées qui ont un côté désagréable.
Un programme de protection nommé "dobbers programme" n'aurait pas eu une image assez positive.

Les militaires aussi sont poétiques.
"orgues de Staline" : les russes ont la poésie musicale
"ingressing" : pour commencer le combat
"colt peacemaker" : initialement c'était "colt pacifier", mais la ligue des familles a voulu en faire un scandale .
    Et puis vous imaginez les procès si le fabriquant n'indique pas en petit sur le côté "can cause severe injuries or death if positionned into the mouth..."

[opslady]

J'aime bien le terme "whistleblower" !
Cela a un petit côté poétique.

Salut Luc. Bien vrai, ca!!

Les politiques savent toujours faire resurgir la partie poétique de leur imagination lorsqu'ils doivent faire passer des idées qui ont un côté désagréable.
Un programme de protection nommé "dobbers programme" n'aurait pas eu une image assez positive.

Au fait, c'est n'importe qui qui pense qu'il a le devoir de rapporter qq-chose qui soit bien anormal, ou contre la loi, etc..comme un etudiant, ou un employe d'un supermarche, etc. Mais j'aime l'image aussi!

Ainsi que ces expressions militaires--tres poetique!

[mkl]

Ainsi que ces expressions militaires--tres poetique!

D'ailleurs par pudeur, les militaires dependent toujours du Ministère de la Defense, jamais du Ministère de l' Attaque.