FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

O.V. Delle-Femine, AMFA National Director
603-527-9212

Frank Boksanske, AMFA National Safety and Standards Director
603-591-7726

Laconia, NH – Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association National Safety and Standards Director Frank Boksanske presented, on March 5, 2003 a paper, titled "Safety Management and Outsourcing" to the "3rd Aircraft Maintenance Outsourcing Conference" in Zurich, Switzerland facilitated by aviation-industry conferences in London.

Federal regulations governing oversight of U.S. air carriers in the United States was discussed along with the current trend to expedite outsourcing of aircraft maintenance to repair stations in spite of safety concerns voiced by thousands of FAA certified aircraft mechanics.

The events of 911 have created an environment for air carriers to push for the reduction in the cost of aircraft maintenance unparalleled in the history of civil aviation. Ironically, this trend follows the January 2000 crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in California, the February 2000 crash of Emery Worldwide in California, the Swissair MD-11 crash in 1998, and the May 1996 ValuJet crash in the Florida Everglades, to name a few. These accidents were determined by the NTSB to have resulted from a lack of regulatory oversight of repair stations or air carrier maintenance programs.

"Oversight of faulty repairs is the responsibility of the air carrier when an aircraft is sent to a repair station for maintenance, but disclosing of maintenance data by the air carriers to the FAA is voluntary, which raises the question as to how something can be fixed if it appears not to be broken", stated Boksanske.

The Department of Transportation Inspector General’s Office is currently conducting a review into the airlines use of repair stations.

USA Today stated in a March 10th article that the General Accounting Office is launching an investigation into the federal government’s use of thousands of repair stations in the United States and abroad.

According to Boksanske, "Federal Air Regulation Part 145, which regulates repair stations, has been minimally updated since 1962".

AMFA is an independent craft union not affiliated with the AFL-CIO. AMFA currently represents more than 13,000 FAA aircraft certified technicians and related personnel employed at Alaska Airlines, American Trans Air, Atlantic Coast Airlines, Horizon Air, Mesaba Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Southwest Airlines.

For more information, visit AMFA on their web site at www.amfanatl.org.