Hello Ms. Banfield,
I
recently saw your report regarding outsourced maintenance from February
8th which is posted on YouTube. First I would like to thank you for
shedding further light on this growing issue. This trend has been
continuing to grow and currently airlines in North America outsource
over $48 billion dollars worth of maintenance and that figure is
expected
to blossom to more than $69 billion dollars over the next ten years
according to presenters at the annual MRO (Maintenance Repair
Organizations) Conference which was held in Dallas TX April 3rd - 5th.
Much of
this money is sent overseas and Mr. Little was correct when he pointed
out that there is close to non-existent oversight at these facilities.
As
a twenty five year mechanic I have witnessed the quality of maintenance
deteriorate because of this trend. The Teamsters Union, through the
Teamsters Aviation Mechanics Coalition has been tracking this decay in
the quality of maintenance over the last several years and it encourages
members to report items that effect safety. We have shared these
concerns on Capitol Hill. As I see it, this problem affects the flying
public in a number of different ways. From a national security aspect,
during airframe overhaul an aircraft is stripped to its basic form, no
interior is left
inside at all during the check, and there are
many places in every aircraft that could hide any manner of device that
could lead to disastrous results. Another key point is that many good
paying jobs have been lost affecting the economy in a very negative way.
At United Airlines
alone the number of aircraft mechanics was reduced from a high of
15,700 ten years ago to 4,700 today. And finally and most importantly
there is safety. Of course safety is compromised when a company shifts
jobs from a skilled workforce to an inexperienced one. These airplanes
are designed to continue flying with multiple systems not working
properly and the overall age of the fleets of North America continues to
decline. Those two factors more than anything have led to the current
safety record. As the price of energy continues to eat away at profit
margins airlines will continue to look for ways to reduce costs.
Maintenance is currently the target for these cost reductions, but there
will most assuredly be other corners
cut as the airlines manage their risks to maintain profitability.
I
would ask if you do another report on this very serious trend that you
please interview someone that knows what they are talking about. All due
respect to Mr. Tilmon but I know as much about flying an aircraft as he
does about fixing one. Both jobs are highly specialized requiring years
of continued training and I wouldn't dream of speculating on air about
why a pilot may have made a certain decision and he should have known
better than to speak about an area that he had little exposure to over
his career.
In
closing, your first instinct was correct, you should be worried. In
fact the country should be worried. Thank you for your time.
Take care,
Bob Fisher
