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By Eddy Metcalf |
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April 27, 2010 -
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed a $348,000 civil
penalty against Chautauqua Airlines for allegedly operating some of its
regional jets without performing inspections required by five different
FAA airworthiness directives (ADs).
FAA investigations
found that problems with Chautauqua’s management of its maintenance
program and its system for tracking the status of airworthiness
directives led to the alleged violations.cracks in the lower wing planks
of Canadair Regional Jets (CRJ) after every 5,000 flights. The FA
alleges that:
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* In January 2009,
the airline operated another CRJ on 231 flights without inspecting a
different section of the lower wings for cracks and flew a different CRJ
for 61 hours without a required inspection of electrical relays.
* Another
Chautauqua CRJ made more than 17,600 flights between November 2007 and
January 2009 before mandatory inspections of the plane’s GE engines were
performed. Chautauqua also flew one of its Embraer 145 regional jets for
43 days past the time one of its inertial navigation units should have
been replaced.
“An air carrier’s
maintenance program can’t function without a good system to determine
compliance with airworthiness directives,” said FAA Administrator Randy
Babbitt. “Problems with the AD system are inconsistent with an airline’s
continued safe operation.”
Chautauqua has 30
days from the receipt of the FAA’s civil penalty letter to respond to
the agency.
Chautauqua
Airlines, Inc. is a regional airline and a subsidiary of Republic
Airways Holdings based in |
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