Alaska faces FAA safety fine

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 safety violations, first disclosed in a Federal Aviation Administration news release Thursday, are the latest problems at Alaska involving work by outside contractors.

Two Alaska jets were damaged in recent weeks after missteps by employees of Menzies Aviation, which Alaska hired in May to handle its ground operations at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

An Alaska spokeswoman noted that the FAA's assessment is not final, and said company officials will meet with the agency Jan. 18 to discuss the proposed penalty.

"Alaska Airlines and the FAA continue to be engaged in legal discussions on this matter," said Amanda Tobin.

A $500,000 fine would be the second-largest levied against the airline since 1998.

The FAA fined Alaska $988,500 in December 2000 after a comprehensive safety audit, conducted following the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in January 2000, revealed violations.

Safety penalties against Alaska Air Group

Jan. 5, 2005 — $500,000 (proposed)

Cause: Operating an Alaska Airlines 737-200 on 478 flights without proper emergency exit lighting.

May 1, 2001 — $211,000

Cause: Operating an Alaska Airlines MD-80 on 47 flights with damaged landing gear.

Jan. 12, 2001 — $90,000

Cause: Operating a Horizon Airlines Dash-8-100 on more than 2,000 flights without ensuring a repaired compass was operating within allowable limits.

Dec. 4, 2000 — $988,500

Cause: Multiple violations on several jets discovered by a comprehensive safety audit conducted after an MD-80 was returned to service with multiple maintenance problems on April 12, 2000, four months after the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261.

Dec. 1, 1998 — $55,000

Cause: Improper transport of hazardous materials and excess cargo on a passenger flight.

Source: Federal Aviation Administration

The emergency-lighting problems cited by the FAA originated with repairs to a 737-200 performed by Goodrich Aviation Technical Services, one of three companies Alaska uses to performs heavy maintenance on its jets.

According to the FAA, Goodrich declared Dec. 2, 2004, that the jet was ready to return to service after the company had spent five months conducting two federally mandated overhauls on the plane, known as "C" and "D" checks.

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

Alaska flew the jet on 376 flights before it discovered 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.

Then when Alaska repaired the lights Feb. 2, it used the wrong parts.

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

The plane flew an additional 102 flights during the two weeks it had the wrong part.

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

But it 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 declined to provide a copy of its formal response to the FAA's September letter outlining the proposed penalty.

Alaska has not done any of its own heavy maintenance since September 2004, when it closed its heavy-maintenance base in Oakland, Calif. and cut 340 jobs.

Those staff reductions were among 900 jobs eliminated in late 2004 that Alaska said would help it save $30 million to $35 million per year as it sought to remain profitable in the face of rising fuel costs and increasing competition from low-cost carriers.

Alaska's maintenance practices have been subject to intense scrutiny since an MD-80 carrying 88 passengers and crew crashed in January 2000 off the Southern California coast, killing everyone on board.

Federal investigators concluded the accident was due to improper maintenance by Alaska employees of the plane's jackscrew, a part in the tail section that helps control the plane's angle of flight.

Last May, Alaska laid off an additional 472 unionized baggage handlers and ramp workers after a prolonged contract dispute.

Alaska outsourced that work to Menzies Aviation, a move the carrier said would save it $13.7 million per year.

On Dec. 26, a Menzies worker damaged an Alaska Airlines MD-80 with a baggage loader but failed to report the incident.

The plane subsequently lost cabin pressure at 26,000 feet when it suffered a 1-foot-by-6-inch rupture in its fuselage as it climbed out of Seattle on its way to Burbank, Calif. It returned safely to Sea-Tac.

And an Alaska 737-700 was damaged at Sea-Tac last week when a Menzies worker inadvertently pushed it forward three feet while it was loading passengers, causing the jet to hit a jetway and a baggage loader.

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