FAA's Grounding of American Airlines MD80: Example of Why the Government shouldn't run Healthcare

American Airlines has been reeling from the effects of even more flight cancellations since its last round of cancellations due to wheel-well wiring issues on the company's fleet of MD-80 jets. This morning another 570 flights were cancelled by the airline according to WCBS-TV.

Democrat Charles Shumer places the blame squarely at the feet of the Federal Aviation Administration.

Schumer said the Federal Aviation Administration's aggressive inspections of wiring in the wheel wells of MD-80 planes is too late, too haphazard and needlessly plunged America's aviation system and even the economy into chaos.

"You can be tough and smart," Schumer said. "You can tell American we are going to inspect this plane at this airport at this time. Make sure you have a back up."

According to American Airlines Chief Executive Officer Gerard Arpey and Executive Vice President Dan Garton, the present arrangement of the wiring bundles in the wheel wells posed no threat to traveler's or air crew's safety.

The failure to meet FAA specifications regarding the wheel- well wiring wasn't a safety issue, Garton and Arpey said. The CEO spoke at a Oneworld airline alliance press conference in Marina del Rey, California.

Garton said American concluded that it had met the FAA's safety directive when it grounded the MD-80s on March 26 and 27 for fixes to the wiring bundles. Those planes weren't reinspected by the FAA before they returned to service.

In the FAA spot checks that began on April 7, inspectors found that the attachment of the wiring bundles didn't match agency specifications such as the orientation of certain clamps and ties, Garton said. Mechanics ``had taken certain latitudes'' in the work, Garton said, not realizing the ``greater emphasis on strict compliance'' at the FAA since U.S. lawmakers began raising questions last month about its oversight of airline maintenance.

``It's a question of how we did the work, not whether we did it,'' Garton said. ``We now understand the rules have gone to a very strict level of enforcement. We will meet that and get the planes in the air.''

So because the arrangement of the wiring bundles by experienced mechanics doesn't line up with the exact dot and tiddle of FAA specifications American has to strand nearly 250,000 passengers as of this week and take the additional promotional and financial hits that result from having to cancel thousands of flights. The Airline and its passengers have to go through all of this chaos not because of an actual safety issue but to observe an FAA protocol as to how the wiring is to be mounted in the wheel well of an MD80.

Can you imagine how the Government would handle healthcare for its citizens?