Foreign repairs of U.S. planes worry lawmakers

Did you
know that many airlines fly their planes to El Salvador — but not to ferry
thrill-seeking tourists, but rather in order to have their planes repaired and
maintained. Airline safety is already in the public spotlight, so it
is not surprising that new alarms are being raised about U.S. airlines’
growing reliance on foreign repair stations in Asia, Europe, and
elsewhere for everything from simple maintenance to major aircraft overhauls
(see HSDW story). St.
Louis Post-Dispatch’s Deirdre Shesgreen writes that with airlines in a financial crunch, outsourcing repair work is a way to
trim costs. Labor costs for mechanics and other workers are often lower
overseas, and hangar space is more readily available. More than 60 percent of
heavy maintenance on U.S. commercial
planes is now done at foreign stations, according to a recent government audit.

Some transportation experts and lawmakers, including Senator
Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri), say lax oversight of such repair stations
represents a gaping hole in airline safety and national security. Defenders of
the foreign shops say they are safe and well-run. Opposition, they say, is
being driven, in part, by union leaders who have seen good-paying maintenance
jobs shipped overseas. The debate came to the fore last week in the Senate, when
McCaskill pressed for tighter U.S. regulation
of foreign repair stations. “We’re not talking about kicking the tires or
changing the oil” but “heavy maintenance” that is done on U.S. airliners,
McCaskill said Thursday in pushing an amendment to an aviation bill. She said
wide-ranging potential problems — from poorly trained workers to loose
perimeter security — could result in anything from faulty repairs to terrorist
plots. The U.S. government
needs to make sure “al-Qaida’s not under the hood” of American passenger
planes, she said, referring to a 2003 Department of Transportation inspector
general report that found a member of that terrorist organization was working
at a repair station in Singapore, where at
least one U.S. carrier has
had work done. Her measure, co-sponsored by Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania),
 would:

• Require
  the FAA to identify all foreign repair stations used by U.S.
  airlines and inspect them at least twice a year, including one unannounced
   check

• Apply
  Federal Aviation Administration drug- and alcohol-testing regulations to
  foreign repair station employees who perform “safety-sensitive
   functions”

• Increase
  fees on foreign repair stations to cover the cost of the inspections

The proposal has pitted powerful union leaders and well-heeled
business travelers against major airline