Northwest Airlines Broke Many Safety Rules, FAA Says

Northwest Airlines improperly delayed aircraft repairs and broke numerous other safety rules, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a report Friday after a monthlong investigation.

The report, which cited 139 shortcomings, also said the airline failed to ensure that pilots flew no longer than allowed and said it did not keep proper records of repairs, classifying some major repairs as minor.

But the report came to no overall conclusion and an FAA spokesman said the Eagan, Minn.-based carrier had a “very good safety record.”

Results of the investigation were contained in a 110-page report released at the FAA’s suburban Chicago office.

Many ‘Areas of Concern’

Northwest acknowledged that the FAA inspection identified “139 findings or areas of concern,” some of which could result in “enforcement actions.”

“Of course, any finding is of concern to us and, as a result, we have told the FAA we will respond completely to each and every one of the findings on March 25,” said Benjamin G. Griggs Jr., Northwest’s executive vice president of operations.

“A number of items already have been resolved,” Griggs said. “In our view, some of the findings are subject to interpretation and we will address these with our FAA inspectors.”

FAA authorities studied Northwest’s operations from Jan. 20 to Feb. 19 as part of a program of in-depth inspections of all major airlines, FAA spokesman Mort Edelstein said.

He said the FAA would not decide whether to fine Northwest until the airline had a chance to respond and the inspection report had been reviewed by agency officials.

Two Other Airlines Fined

A similar inspection at Eastern Airlines two years ago led to fines totaling $9.5 million for hundreds of violations, mostly involving maintenance discrepancies. Pan Am World Airways was fined $1.95 million in 1986.

At least two Northwest Airlines jets, both DC-10s, flew several flights from Jan. 1 to Feb. 11 “in an unairworthy condition,” the report said.

One of the jets flew while missing a small inspection cover on top of an engine pylon, the report said. The second flew several trips even though the crew “failed to neutralize or identify the exact cause of” a problem with a gauge monitoring the speed of an engine turbine.

FAA inspectors also found that Northwest “does not have a system to monitor flight and duty time for management pilots to ensure compliance with flight time limitations.”

In another violation, the FAA found that the pilot in command of Northwest Flight 49 on Feb. 10 “smoked a cigarette while the ‘no smoking’ light was on.”

Maintenance Deferred

The inspection also found evidence of deferred maintenance. The report said, for example, that a Boeing 757 was operated from Nov. 1 through Jan. 7 while having problems with its auxiliary power unit. Repairs on the unit were deferred 13 times before the equipment was replaced, the report said.

It found that Northwest flight dispatchers also were burdened with an “excessive workload” and contended that the airline “does not provide enough qualified dispatchers at each dispatch center to ensure proper operational control of each flight.”