This was part of Oberstar's recent hearings on the failures of the FAA. One retired FAA guy said the way it was handled was all a 'cover-u-p'.

Continental has an ASAP and this accident was entered into the ASAP and there were no punitive actions taken against the pilots. This was bounced all the way up the chain and recently the FAA commented saying they agreed with the way the accident was handled.

From what I have read, the contract maint outfit did not have an ASAP, the outfit was fined, one mechanic had his licenses revoked and Continental was fined $45,000.

Terrible accident and lots of failures along the way.

There was another thread here a few days ago.