There is line

WASHINGTON (AP) -- American Airlines failed to catch repeated errors by mechanics before a September 2007 flight that made an emergency landing after one of its engines caught fire during departure.
The 143 people onboard weren't injured, but the incident could have become catastrophic because of additional mistakes by the flight crew, members of the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday.


The four-member board recommended changes in pilot training programs to take into account simultaneous emergencies.
The findings come as American faces heightened scrutiny by the Federal Aviation Administration.
The agency recently assigned a special team of 17 inspectors to examine American's aircraft maintenance and other operations. The special audit is expected to take about three months.
The NTSB's hearing on Tuesday was held to examine the Sept. 28, 2007 incident in which American Flight 1400's left engine caught fire during a departure climb from Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
The MD-82, a mid-sized airliner, returned to the airport, but fire had damaged the aircraft's hydraulic system so that the plane's rudder wasn't functioning and the nose landing gear failed to extend during an initial landing attempt. A second attempt was successful.
While there were no injuries, the plane sustained substantial damage.
American spokesman Tim Wagner said the airline is changing training procedures for mechanics and pilots as a result of the incident, and hiring more auditors to review maintenance work.
NTSB's issues "were with our personnel not following our procedures rather than any problem with our procedures," he said.
Investigators said the engine had had repeated trouble starting beginning 10 days before the incident. Maintenance crews replaced a starter valve six times during that period. On the day of the incident, the engine again failed to start when the plane was at the gate and had to be started manually a second time before Flight 1400 took off.
It turned out mechanics had failed to properly maintain a metal air filter, which disintegrated, investigators said. The destruction of the filter led to a series of other mechanical problems, including a bent pin, which helped caused the engine fire.
During the fire, the flight crew made several mistakes that acerbated the problem and could have led to a more serious accident, investigators said.
The pilot interrupted his emergency checklist to inform passengers of the trouble, which delayed his shut-off of fuel to the fire and allowed the fire to burn longer, investigators said. That led to the damage to the hydraulic system, they said.
"We probably wouldn't be here talking if he had done that checklist in a timely manner," investigator Dave Tew said.
The co-pilot was engaged in trying to wrestle the cockpit door closed after the fire partially shutdown the aircraft's electrical system, which released the automatic door lock, they said.
"It seems to me it was a series of people taking shortcuts that accumulated on this particular day into what could have been much more catastrophic," said safety board member Kitty Higgins.
Last August, the FAA asked American to pay a $7.1 million civil penalty -- one of the largest ever assessed against an airline -- for continuing to fly two jets after an FAA inspector and American's own mechanics found problems with their autopilot systems.
American, a unit of Fort Worth-based AMR Corp., operates the world's largest fleet of MD-80 series planes, with 275 of them. When oil prices spiked last year, American stepped up plans to replace them with more fuel-efficient jets, but that will take years.
As they age, the MD-80s are facing more maintenance issues. Last July, the FAA ordered airlines to inspect certain MD-80 models -- including most of American's -- for cracks on overwing frames. Last April, American grounded its entire MD-80 fleet to repack the electrical wiring, causing the cancellation of more than 3,000 flights.

bluebravo

The valve was replaced six times in 13 days? WOW! I'm all about proactive maintenance but THATS a little over board. Forklift anyone? Also, interrupting the engine fire checks to brief pax? Now dont get me wrong, to me it sounds like the NTSB is hanging the crew out there on that detail, and its a shame. BUT.....interrupting a engine fire checklist to tell the passengers whats going on? I know AA's checklists are UNGODLY long.....but still...

How many of you would have set it down regardless what the nose gear light said? With a burning motor and HYD issues, I'd be touching pavement ASAP, nose gear or no nose gear.

forgot to bid

I guess this adds to the ammo for that lammo, who cannot spell, that started the anti-MD80 website md80.org. You can go there to see a list of victims killed by the MD80 and sign a petition to stop the MD80 from flying... or the petition is coming soon.

JetPiedmont

Didn't they have to wait 1-2 minutes after retarding the thrust lever to see if the fire warning extinguished before they shut down the engine? Sounds like he could be faulted for multi-tasking, but how long does it take to tell the folks that we're turning back due to an engine problem?
I'm not defending it, but that along with some other CRM issues must be what the NTSB is really trying to point out.

Bucking Bar

Where do we sign?

Bucking Bar

RING RING RING FIRE RIGHT ENGINE RING RING RING FIRE RIGHT ENGINE....FIRE

"oh never mind, sometimes it just does that... hack the clock...."

What?

NGINEWHOISWHAT

I was under the impression the fire was out. Although I'm not a fan of single engine go-arounds with an (extinguished) fire, limited rudder, full, heavy, & with multiple malfunctions, but it appears to be the proper call to abort the landing until he had three green. It's catch 22 anyway. I'm not going to monday morning quarterback these guys ... these things always seem to happen on day four of a four day trip on the last leg when all you can think about is a tall cold one and a hot tall one. Could they have done things better? How many times have you left a sim or a check ride, or real world event and say, "I should have done this or that?" They earned their money that day.

Dashdog

This crap happens all the time. Maintenance won't actually do any diagnostic work, because that costs more than just repeatedly replacing the same part. Didn't I read somewhere that the definition of stupidity is repeating the same action over and over again expecting a different result each time?

RockyBoy

Exactly right. Who cares how much of the airplane burned, no passengers or crew were burned and that is what counts. Can we learn something from the deal, absolutely. Should this crew get crap for doing it the way they did, absolutely not. They landed a jet with multiple failures which is something 99% of us will only ever experience in the sim.

captjns

Saw the site... the author of the website needs to realize that the MD80 does not kill... it's the operator.