Delta Faces Fine for Flying Jet That Had Malfunction

The Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a $70,000 fine against Delta Air Lines for flying a Boeing 727 jet to Los Angeles after the pilot discovered a mechanical problem, officials said today.

The agency said it wants to revoke all pilot certificates held by the Delta captain responsible for the flight of an “unairworthy” plane between Fresno and Los Angeles. Federal officials also were seeking to lift the dispatcher’s certificate of the Delta worker who permitted the flight last June 17 to continue.

No injuries occurred during the flight.

The Atlanta-based airline had no immediate response to the FAA’s action.

The FAA said Delta Flight 1575 left Fresno for Reno, its scheduled destination, and then immediately diverted to Los Angeles, where maintenance facilities were available to repair a malfunctioning rudder control system.

During taxiing just before takeoff, the Delta captain had requested permission to hold in the run-up area to check out the rudder system, the FAA said. The captain then spent about 25 minutes on the ground performing various tests in coordination with the airline’s Atlanta maintenance and dispatch facility in an unsuccessful effort to fix the problem, the agency said.

“The captain and the dispatcher then devised a course of action to take off the aircraft from Fresno with a flight plan and dispatch release to Reno with no intent to fly to Reno but instead on takeoff to immediately divert to Los Angeles because of the mechanical discrepancy,” the FAA said.