FAA proposes penalty against Alaska Airlines for lighting problem

Federal regulators have proposed a $500,000 fine against Alaska Airlines for flying a jet without required emergency lighting for two months, and then flying it for two more weeks with the wrong replacement part.

The penalty is the latest in a flurry of recent problems at Alaska involving work performed by outside contractors. Two Alaska jets were damaged in recent weeks by missteps by employees of Menzies Aviation, which Alaska hired in May to handle its ground operations at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

The emergency lighting problems cited by the Federal Aviation Administration originated with repairs to a 737-200 performed by Goodrich Aviation Technical Services, which is one of three companies Alaska uses to performs heavy maintenance on its jets. According to the FAA, Goodrich declared on Dec. 2, 2004, that the jet was ready to return to service after the company had spent five months conducting two federally mandated maintenance checks on the plane.

Yet Goodrich had not installed emergency exit identifier lights at the the plane's two front doors, "rendering the airplane unairworthy," the FAA said.

Alaska then flew the 737 on 376 flights before it discovered on Feb. 2, 2005, that the lights were missing — even though, according to the FAA, Alaska had performed 40 routine inspections of the plane during that time.

When Alaska repaired the lights on Feb. 2, it then used the wrong parts.

An FAA safety inspector pointed out the problem on Feb. 10, but Alaska did not correct it until Feb. 16.

The plane flew an additional 102 flights during that two-week period when the wrong part was installed.

In a civil penalty letter to Alaska Airlines Chief Executive Bill Ayer dated Sept. 23, 2005, the FAA cited Alaska for violating five separate aviation regulations.

The agency acknowledged that "safety was not adversely affected," at least for the two weeks that the 737-200 was operating with the incorrect part.

But the FAA chided Alaska and Goodrich for their "repeated failures to follow Alaska's (maintenance program), both during the original maintenance and in the 40 inspections that failed to detect the unairworthy condition."

Alaska has requested a meeting with the FAA to discuss the proposed penalty. The two sides are due to meet Jan. 18.

David Bowermaster: 206-464-2724 or dbowermaster@seattletimes.com