Alaska Airlines Mechanics Told to Double-Check MD-80 Fleet
Posted on: Friday, 30 September 2005, 15:00 CDT
By John Gillie, The News Tribune, Tacoma, Wash.
Sep. 30--Alaska Airlines Chairman Bill Ayer ordered airline mechanics Thursday to inspect lubrication of a critical control mechanism on the airline's fleet of 26 MD-80 jetliners.
Ayer's directive follows a report that federal authorities have launched an investigation of two incidents in which mechanics reported they found those devices were not properly lubricated.
The devices are jackscrews that control the orientation of the leading edge of the planes' horizontal tail. The failure to properly lubricate a jackscrew led to the Jan. 31, 2000, crash of an Alaska MD-80 in the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles.
Ayer said the SeaTac-based airline already had taken measures to ensure the jackscrews were being lubricated according to Federal Aviation Administration guidelines, but he ordered the new inspections as a double check.
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Source: The News Tribune
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