Firm News

Faulty Maintenance Cause of American Airlines Flight 1400 Fire

Posted on Apr 08, 2009

The forced landing of an American Airlines flight 1400 in St. Louis due to an engine fire was caused by faulty maintenance according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). Contributing factors included the pilot's error in failing to complete a checklist during the emergency and American's management's failure in detecting flawed maintenance procedures.

AMR Corp. the parent company of American Airlines was forced by regulators to ground planes last year for inspections not up to manufacturers' standards. The specific cause of the St. Louis fire was because maintenance workers repeatedly used a tool to manually start the engine, which use was strictly prohibited by The Boeing Company, the MD-82's, manufacturer.

It was reported by bloomberg.com that NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker told reporters, "You can't just be taking processes out of your hip pocket that are not the approved manuals, that are not the approved procedures, and expect to be able to get the appropriate results."

The NTSB found that the American mechanics had bent a component of the aircraft when they used the prohibited tool, which led to the Sept. 28, 2007 fire. The mechanics used the prohibited method because their co-workers had failed to detect a worn out filter that prevented normal starts. The mechanics mistakenly replaced a start valve six times in 12 days before the accident, without realizing the problem was the filter which was worn out.

The NTSB report stated that if American's own maintenance procedures had been followed precisely, the incident and potential tragedy would have been prevented.

The pilots in control of American Airlines flight 1400 never completed a checklist for engine-fire emergencies. This pilot error caused the blaze to last much longer than it would have had the checklist been followed. Bloomberg.com stated Rosenker said, "There were a host of serious problems going on in that cockpit" and ‘the problems, "when you added them all together, could have been extremely catastrophic."

The Allied Pilots Association believes the evidence pointed to failure to follow American's repair processes, "clearly compromising the effectiveness of their maintenance reliability program."

The NTSB also faulted American's maintenance-monitoring system for not detecting the flaws in their maintenance procedures. The safety board recommended that the carrier correct deficiencies in the so-called Continuing Analysis and Surveillance System.

Similar evaluations have occurred at Southwest Airlines Co. and Continental Airlines Inc.

If a family member or other loved one has been the victim of an aviation disaster you need an experienced aviation attorney. Please call or click to speak directly with B. Keith Williams.

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