American Eagle Returns 25 Jets to Service After Brief Grounding

By Trebor Banstetter, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Mar. 24–American Eagle, regional partner of American Airlines, briefly grounded 25 planes Friday amid questions over whether inspections had been properly conducted.

The Fort Worth-based airline voluntarily parked 25 Bombardier CRJ-700 regional jets for about 3 1/2 hours, airline officials said, after the Federal Aviation Administration questioned whether two types of inspections had been done correctly. The examinations in question focused on the aircraft hydraulic systems and the rudder.

The planes were returned to service after the FAA determined that the airplanes had received adequate inspections, said Andrea Huguely, Eagle spokeswoman.

“We knew that we had completed (the inspections) correctly, but the FAA was unsure,” Huguely said. An FAA spokeswoman confirmed the planes had been grounded, but declined to comment further.

The 70-seat jets were parked at 6 p.m. Friday, and remained grounded until about 9:30 p.m. A total of 15 flights were canceled because of the incident, 13 of them departing from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

Aircraft inspections have been under increased scrutiny in recent weeks after the FAA slapped Southwest Airlines with a record $10.2 million fine for allegedly flying dozens of Boeing 737 jets that hadn’t been properly examined for fuselage cracks.

On March 11, Dallas-based Southwest suspended three employees and began an internal investigation into the lapse. The next day, the airline grounded 38 planes for re-inspections after questions arose about whether they had been properly checked.

Last week, the FAA said it was going to audit inspection records at every commercial airline. American officials said they had already begun their own internal review of inspections at American and Eagle following the Southwest fine.

The Southwest case is being investigated by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, which is holding hearings on the issue early next month. U.S. Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., who chairs the committee, had alleged that the FAA and the airlines have a cozy relationship that encourages lax safety standards.

TREBOR BANSTETTER, 817-390-7064

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