FAA Orders Major Repairs for Nation’s Older Airliners

The federal government, concerned about the danger of aging airliners, on Thursday tentatively ordered $142 million in modifications to older Boeing 727s, 737s and 747s.

The action by the Federal Aviation Administration, which is expected to become effective in the fall, would apply initially to 115 planes. It comes in response to the accident last year in which a 19-year-old Aloha Airlines 737 that had logged almost 90,000 flights lost an 18-foot section of its fuselage while flying over Hawaii.

The agency said that the order represents a “fundamental change in the FAA’s philosophy for maintaining the airworthiness of older aircraft.” The new order would cover additional aircraft as they grow older--a potentially huge group, because the average age of commercial transportation aircraft is about 13 years.

Instead of simply requiring regular inspections of planes for corrosion, cracking and other signs of metal fatigue, the FAA order would require modifications of planes when they become 20 years old or have made a certain number of flights, regardless of what inspections show. The number of flights: 60,000 for 727s, 75,000 for 737s and 20,000 for 747s.

“We’re trying to move away from an inspection-intensive system,” said FAA spokesman John Leyden. “We’re saying we need to replace certain parts,” like landing gear, after a specified amount of use.

The proposed FAA “airworthiness directives,” open to public comment until June 30 and expected to become final by September, call for numerous modifications on wings, doors, tail assemblies, landing gears, fuselages and landing struts. The changes include structural reinforcement and replacement of a variety of parts, such as skins, bulkheads and frames.

Because of the large number of work hours required to make the modifications, airlines would be allowed four years to comply with the rules. Meanwhile, inspections will continue.

The modifications vary, as does the time it will take to perform them, depending on the aircraft series. The fuselages of 747s must be strengthened, for example, a task requiring 14,000 work hours for each plane. Among the total of 115 Boeing aircraft covered are 67 of the 727s, 28 of the 737s and 20 of the 747s.

Foreign Jets Not Covered

Although foreign airlines with these planes in their fleets would not have to comply with the FAA rules, they are expected to do so voluntarily.

In the Aloha Airlines accident, a flight attendant was killed when she was swept out of the plane through a gaping hole in the fuselage. The plane landed safely with no other fatalities.

The April, 1988, accident focused unprecedented attention on aging airliners worldwide, leading to the formation of an FAA-sponsored international conference on the problem two months later. That, in turn, spawned a joint government-industry task force headed by the Air Transport Assn. Its mission was to develop plans for dealing specifically with Boeing aircraft. The FAA based its new rules on the task force recommendations.

Another task force is developing similar recommendations that will apply to McDonnell Douglas aircraft, and a third is working on plans covering all other planes. FAA officials said that they expect to issue those rules later this year.

On Thursday, Stephen D. Hayes, vice president of the association that represents air carriers, praised the FAA for “moving ahead quickly” on the issue.

Hayes acknowledged that the cost of the modifications would be significant, but he added: “I don’t think we’re going to see any fare increases as a result of this.”

In Seattle, Boeing spokesman Jack Gamble said that the company was “very pleased” with the proposed rules, adding that they would “raise the standard of safety” in air travel.

Both men asserted that some carriers already have initiated some of the FAA requirements, reflecting a view among experts that the new rules would serve to ensure that the less progressive and conscientious airlines would be most affected.

“The rule places a platform in the industry,” Gamble said. “It will bring everybody up to the same level.”