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The U.S. Department of Transportation is criticizing the Federal
Aviation
Administration FAA is for not properly overseeing the aircraft
maintenance
done by third-party repair companies.

In an effort to save money during a time when the airline industry has
hit
more than its share of financial turbulence, many carriers are hiring
outside companies to maintain their planes.

According to the department's inspector general, the FAA conducted only
3
percent of its 2002 inspections on repair facilities operated by
contractors.

But airlines are now outsourcing about 47 percent of their maintenance,
which means it's vital that the FAA oversee the operations of
contractors
and make sure planes are receiving the care the flying public should
expect.

While the low rate of contractor inspections may seem alarming, airline
officials apparently feel confident about outsourcing maintenance.

Many say the service provided by outside repair companies is on par
with
that provided by the carriers themselves, and they claim it's sometimes
better. Contractors are checked not only by the FAA (sometimes) but by
the
carriers that hire them, so they are double monitored in a sense.

That's great when it happens. But the FAA must ensure that such
monitoring
is done.

Since 1996, the National Transportation Safety Board has investigated
four
airline crashes that have been linked to aircraft repair stations.While
maintenance done by the carriers are not necessarily guaranteed,
either, the
DOT is right to be concerned with the lack of actual inspections being
performed.

In addition to the DOT inspector general, some air-safety experts and
the
union that represents FAA inspectors have raised concerns about
maintenance
outsourcing.

The FAA reportedly has agreed that it needs to pay more attention to
non-airline maintenance companies, so there's some assurance that more
and
better inspections will be made.

Airlines should continue to keep a close eye on the companies with
which
they contract, or step up those monitoring efforts if they have not
already
done so.

When it comes to flying, after all, you can't take too many safety
precautions.
***************

Foreign regulation muddles FAA's job

(USA TODAY) - Federal safety inspectors who rely on other countries to
oversee foreign maintenance contractors used by U.S. airlines sometimes
get
back inspection reports in another language or garbled English,
according to
a new Department of Transportation report.

The language barrier makes it impossible for FAA inspectors depending
on
foreign aviation officials to check aircraft repair stations in those
countries to determine whether they are safe.

That's just one of numerous lapses identified Thursday by the DOT's
review
of the Federal Aviation Administration's oversight of maintenance
contractors, called repair stations.

Auditors from the DOT Office of Inspector General also found that FAA
inspectors spend as little as 20 minutes, or just a few hours,
reviewing
whether repair stations are meeting standards.

''We found no indication that FAA has taken action to adjust its
surveillance activities to more closely monitor air carriers' use of
these
facilities,'' the report said. ''In fact, we found that FAA has no
mechanism
in place to obtain information on how much work is outsourced,
domestically
or overseas.''

FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said Thursday that the agency agrees
with
the major findings in the report. She said the agency is committed to
stepping up surveillance of repair stations. But she said the current
system
is safe.

''You will not find in the report any data or indications that there is
anything unsafe,'' Blakey said.

The report said some of the FAA weaknesses identified by investigators
and
watchdog reports after a ValuJet crash in 1996 -- blamed on faulty work
by a
now-defunct contractor -- remain. It noted that inspectors assigned to
oversee repair stations maintaining passenger airlines are still
expected to
juggle oversight of less-critical areas: maintenance and flight
schools,
helicopter and general-aviation operators, and other duties.

The report says FAA oversight is lacking in other ways:

* The FAA inspectors overseeing maintenance done by airlines themselves
and
those overseeing work by repair stations hired by airlines don't
routinely
share information.

* FAA inspectors responsible for overseeing foreign repair stations are
typically unable to conduct unannounced inspections. Mechanics at
foreign
repair stations aren't required to undergo drug, alcohol and
security-background checks, which are required of mechanics in the USA.

* Where the FAA lets foreign governments oversee foreign contractors
fixing
U.S. planes, the oversight sometimes is ineffective. Inspections by
foreign
aviation officials aren't necessarily in comprehensible English, and
there
are few FAA inspectors fluent in the language of the country they
oversee.