FAA steps up ValuJet inspections

Agency plans 30-day review

May 15, 1996
Web posted at: 2:10 p.m. EDT

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Without accusing ValuJet of safety violations, the Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday that it was requiring the no-frills carrier to undergo new inspection procedures.

These include a five-point intensified review over the next 30 days. During a news conference carried live on CNN, FAA chief David Hinson repeated his assertion that ValuJet is "safe to fly" and called the added inspections "additional safety margins." (155K AIFF or WAV sound)

Hinson said the maintenance records of every ValuJet aircraft will be "reexamined to ensure the airline is meeting all of the FAA's special requirements relative to older aircraft."

The average age of the 51 planes in the ValuJet fleet is 26.4 years.

"Any ValuJet that fails to meet every regulatory requirement will be taken out of service until those requirements are met," Hinson said.

'Safety czar'

FAA Associate Administrator Anthony Broderick also revealed that ValuJet will voluntarily hire a "safety czar" and review "all mechanical irregularities, air returns, pilot reports and other factors."

ValuJet's aim was to set up by Friday "a schedule under which the airline will reinspect every aircraft in its fleet," he said.

During the next 30 days Broderick said the FAA will:

• Review all reports of ValuJet mechanical problems filed in the past 12 months and make sure the required corrective action was taken.

• Inspect ValuJet aircraft in the morning to ensure that overnight repairs were done properly. (100K AIFF or WAV sound)

• Assign FAA inspectors to be aboard each ValuJet aircraft at least once a week for in-flight inspection. (150K AIFF or WAV sound)

• Reinspect all ValuJet "line maintenance stations." Such facilities are located at airports in cities served by ValuJet "away from (its) main hubs" in Atlanta, Boston, Orlando and Washington (Dulles Airport).

• Inspect all ValuJet aircraft undergoing extensive maintenance at facilities throughout the country.

  Related stories:
• Infant's death raises ValuJet crash toll to 110 people - May 15, 1996
• Investigators recover more parts of the plane that are stained with soot - May 15, 1996
• Church grapples with loss of four members in crash - May 15, 1996
• 'There could have been an explosion' - May 14, 1996

Related sites:

• Federal Aviation Administration
• ValuJet home page
• The US Department of Transportation
• David Hinson
• Anthony Broderick

Related newsgroups:

• alt.disasters.aviation
• rec.travel.air

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