AMFA Applauds DOT Report Criticizing FAA Oversight of Non-Certificated Aircraft Repair Shops.WASHINGTON -- The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) is an independent union that represents aircraft maintenance employees of commercial airlines in the United States. AMFA is committed to the principles of craft unionism, in that it seeks to represent only airline mechanics and (AMFA AMFA Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association AMFA Alternative Motor Fuels Act (PL 100-494) AMFA Asociación Movimiento Fe y Alegría (Association for Activities of Faith and Joy; Guatemala) ) today applauded a new report from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Inspector General (IG) that criticizes the Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control (FAA) for failing to oversee aircraft maintenance work performed at so-called non-certificated repair facilities. The IG report, requested by Rep. James Oberstar, Ranking Member In United States politics, the ranking member or ranking minority member is a member of a congressional committee from the minority party, frequently the member with the highest seniority. of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, gives the FAA 30 days to respond to the report's recommendations. "We have insisted for years that anyone performing maintenance on U.S. aircraft should be subject to the same licensing requirements as our members are, and any facility where this work is done should have the same degree of FAA oversight as our facilities do," said AMFA National Director O.V. Delle-Femine. "Earlier on, the IG told the FAA to make this happen at certificated repair shops, although the FAA is still woefully woe·ful also wo·ful adj. 1. Affected by or full of woe; mournful. 2. Causing or involving woe. 3. Deplorably bad or wretched: short of this goal. Now the IG is telling the FAA, for the sake of public safety, to extend its oversight to non-certificated repair shops." Airlines have been outsourcing (1) Contracting with outside consultants, software houses or service bureaus to perform systems analysis, programming and datacenter operations. Contrast with insourcing. See netsourcing, ASP, SSP and facilities management. more and more maintenance work to facilities in the U.S. and abroad. Most of the outsourced work today goes to repair shops the FAA certifies ("certificated repair facilities"), where the FAA takes at least nominal responsibility for monitoring (a June 2005 IG report showed that this oversight is still poor). The new IG report says that the FAA needs to extend its oversight to non-certificated shops, which originally were intended to perform only minor and emergency repairs, because airlines are increasingly using these facilities for critical repairs including engine replacement. "In a nutshell nut·shell n. The shell enclosing the meat of a nut. Idiom: in a nutshell In a few words; concisely: Just give me the facts in a nutshell. Adv. 1. , the report says no one, not the FAA and not the airlines, is adequately monitoring the crucial repair work being done at non-certificated shops in the U.S. and overseas. The problem with both certificated and non-certificated outsourcing is that the FAA is seriously under-funded and seriously under-inspecting. For political reasons, FAA management has to pretend outsourced maintenance is safer than it is," Delle-Femine said. Delle-Femine thanked Rep. Oberstar for his strong support of aviation safety. The full December 15 IG report is available at http://www.oig.dot.gov/StreamFile?file=/data/pdfdocs/av2006031.pdf. |
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