Workers’ Charge Sets Off New Alaska Air Probe

The Federal Aviation Administration said Saturday that it is investigating new allegations of major maintenance problems at Alaska Airlines, intensifying scrutiny of the company’s service of its fleet after the January crash of Flight 261.

The inquiry began after 64 mechanics and inspectors signed a letter charging that a manager at a Seattle maintenance facility had “pressured, threatened and intimidated” them to take actions that would have violated federal aircraft maintenance regulations.

For more than a year, federal investigators have been conducting a criminal probe of alleged safety violations at the airline’s Oakland maintenance hub.

Among the allegations surfacing in Seattle are charges that mechanics were instructed to “put unserviceable parts” back on planes, according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Times.

The workers alleged they were repeatedly directed to “do things specifically contradicting” federal air safety regulations. Complaints to management at the Seattle hangar “have gone unheeded and have not stopped the . . . pattern of behavior,” the letter said.

The letter does not specify when the alleged pressure by the manager began. He was placed on paid administrative leave by airline officials after they received the letter Thursday evening, a company spokesman said.

The airline launched a joint investigation with the FAA and began interviewing dozens of employees.

“Our FAA inspectors are taking part in every one of those interviews,” said FAA spokeswoman Rebecca Trexler. The agency has stepped up its monitoring of the airline’s maintenance operations, she said.

Airline spokesman Jack Evans said Saturday afternoon that no evidence had been uncovered thus far that any Alaska plane was allowed to fly in an unsafe condition. Any aircraft identified as operating in violation of federal air safety rules would be immediately grounded, he said.

“Obviously, there are a lot of other things we are talking about in the interviews. But the most important question right off the bat is: Are there any planes out there flying that are in unsafe or unairworthy condition?

“Our first priority is passenger safety.”

By late Saturday the FAA and Alaska Airlines had interviewed 29 inspectors and mechanics in Seattle. Interviews with the rest of those who signed the letter were expected to be finished by Tuesday.

The investigation of the alleged safety violations is expected to be completed sometime after that, Evans said, depending on what officials learn.

The Seattle maintenance manager at the center of the probe, Robert Falla, said through his attorney Saturday that he had done nothing improper.

“Mr. Falla has never knowingly allowed any aircraft to go into service that was not airworthy or that failed any safety standard,” said attorney Scott Engelhard. “We expect that he will be fully exonerated by any investigation into allegations against him.”

He declined to address the specific allegations contained in the letter from the inspectors and mechanics.

Falla was not involved in supervising heavy maintenance on the MD-80 series, one of which crashed off Southern California, the attorney said.

In addition to telling the FAA about the accusations, Alaska Airlines alerted the National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the Flight 261 crash, and the U.S. attorney’s office in San Francisco.

Federal prosecutors there have been conducting a grand jury investigation of the airline’s maintenance hangar in Oakland. The probe, begun before the Flight 261 disaster, is examining allegations that mechanics falsified safety records and allowed two planes to fly in unairworthy condition--a violation of federal aviation regulations.

Prosecutors have subpoenaed maintenance records for 11 planes serviced at the Oakland facility.

Records on the Flight 261 plane have not yet been subpoenaed, Evans said. The airline says it is cooperating with the various investigations.

The MD-83 that crashed off Ventura County on Jan. 31, killing all 88 on board, received its last heavy maintenance checks at the Oakland facility in January 1999.

NTSB crash investigators have focused for weeks on the aircraft’s tail stabilizer system--a wing-like device that controls the up-and-down pitch of the plane.

Radio transmissions and flight recorders showed that the pilots on Flight 261 struggled with the stabilizer and tried to control the aircraft before the plane suddenly nose-dived into the ocean.

Officials have said it is too soon to tell if maintenance problems contributed to the crash.

However, investigators on Friday said that they found no lubricating grease on a crucial mechanical component of the tail stabilizer recovered from the wreckage near Anacapa Island.

The part in question, a jackscrew, is a long bolt that travels back and forth through a nut as the stabilizer is operated.

FAA-ordered inspections after the crash found damaged jackscrews on eight other planes, including one in Alaska’s fleet.

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Times staff writer Tim Reiterman contributed to this story.