What do you folks lay the odds that a high calibre maintenance organization with qualified inspectors using approved software could miss a structural AD? Not logical. There must be a better explanation...
Did the FAA lie to SWA? You bet! Look at the results of the FAA internal investigation:
Aviation Safety Inspector Comeau leaves FAA and goes to work for SWA.
This violates the ethics law. Call Kim Tolar FAA Ethics Lawyer SW Region for verification.
FAA Supervisor Gawadzinski removed for conflict of interest?
FAA Manager of Cert Management Office Michael Mills removed for incompetence?
FAA Division Manager Tomas J. Stuckey retaliates against whistleblowers Bobby Boutris and Douglas Peters by putting them under investigation by his hit team from FAA Security. This is how I know:
I suffered retaliation for the last ten years in the FAA for making whistleblower disclosures to congress three times, and again for disclosures to the Office of Special Council (three more times).
I have a lawsuit pending in Federal District Court against the FAA.
The older inspectors are being forced out and replaced with younger less experienced inspectors at a lower pay scale. It's called dumbing down the agency. The new hires will top out at a lower grade than I hired in at in 1990.
The reporters from the Dallas Morning News were very careful to learn the facts before printing their story. I know because I briefed them about Aging Aircraft Structural Inspections, AD's and Boeing SSID's.
Myself and many others who have been forced to retire from the FAA are dedicated to the safety of the flying public and the aviation community. That is why we came forward at great cost.
The FAA in its present form is about power and personal gain, not aviation or safety.
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03-10-2008
05:40 AM
4 Loves
An AD is published by the Aircraft Certification Office (ACO) of the FAA. A Suplemental Structural Inspection Document (SSID) is published by Boeing. One supports the other Boeing backing SW means they consider the SSID has not been compromised. Boeing's SSID has no weight with the AD unless it is properly submitted to the ACO to obtain an Alternate Means Of Compliance (AMOC). SW still must comply with the AD however the AMOC allows them to have an "equivalent level of safety" by complying with the support of Boeing's SSID. FAA management was complicent when they authorized an extension. Only the ACO can do that and only with an AMOC. It is important to understand that AD's are written in blood. It is impossible that the calibre of maintenance in a 121 Air Carrier could miss an AD at 4500 cycles. It ain't gonna happen.
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