© American Airlines
Thursday, April 10: For many flyers across the country it’s Day Three of The Great Grounding, the third day in a row the world’s largest airline put squadrons of its mainstay medium-range airplane, the MD-80, on the ground to re-inspect wiring.
Expect American Airlines to cancel more than 900 flights today, fewer tomorrow (Friday, April 11), and perhaps be up and running normally by Saturday (April 12).
Here’s the MD-80 scorecard as of yesterday afternoon:
– 179 had been completely inspected;
– 60 of those 179 twinjets had been returned to service;
– 119 of the craft were still undergoing work;
– 121 MD-80s had yet to be inspected.
American axed 460 of its flights on Tuesday (April 8), and more than 1,000 on Wednesday (April 9). This is the second time in recent weeks that AA has grounded its workhorse aircraft, used for shorter and medium-haul routes. American says the Federal Aviation Administration inspections are “focused on detailed, technical specifications and not safety-of-flight issues”.
The Allied Pilots Association (APA) however, which represents American’s pilots, quotes the original airworthiness directive (AD) from FAA as saying the order was issued: “to prevent shorted wires or arcing at the hydraulic fuel pump, which could result in loss of auxiliary hydraulic power, or a fire in the wheel well of the airplane.”
The pilots union goes on to quote the directive as saying: “The actions specified by this AD are also intended to reduce the potential of an ignition source adjacent to the fuel tanks, which, in combination with flammable fuel vapors, could result in a fuel tank explosion and consequent loss of the airplane.”
The APA says this second round of inspections stemmed from a FAA ramp inspection of nine MD-80s on Monday (April 7) to ensure that the aircraft had been properly inspected and modified. In its APA Information Hotline the union said, “All nine [aircraft] failed the audit”.
Gerard Arpey, American Airlines’ Chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement yesterday (Wednesday, April 9): “We continue to inspect every airplane to ensure we are in total agreement with the specifications of the [airworthiness directive]. We will get back to a full schedule as quickly as possible.”
Arpey said American is doing “whatever it takes” to assist flyers affected by the second round of temporary groundings. Arpey says: “This includes compensating those inconvenienced customers who stayed overnight in a location away from their final destination.”
To find out if your flight is affected by the inspections, the best bet is to go to FlightStats. A number of flyers appear to have experienced frustration in trying to get through to American via phone to find out their flight’s status.
© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler
