Apr 2, 2008 8:00 am US/Central
United Grounds 52 Planes For Inspection
Second Emergency Inspection By United In Two Weeks
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
Emergency inspections are underway Wednesday morning on more than 50 United Airlines Boeing 777 aircraft.
United says during a review of maintenance records, inspectors discovered that tests were not performed on one of the five bottles in the planes' fire suppression system. That mistake was voluntarily reported to the Federal Aviation Administration, United said.
United officials said they are in the process of checking the fire suppression systems, which are regularly tested before each flight. Until the tests are complete, the planes will not fly, reported CBS station WBBM-TV in Chicago.
Chicago-based United operates 52 Boeing 777 aircraft, and is advising customers they could face cancellations or delays on Wednesday.
This is the second time in two weeks that United has grounded planes for reinspection. On March 20, United was forced to re-inspect seven of its jumbo jets, after a maintenance facility in South Korea discovered inspection equipment had not been tested on time.
Some delays were reported in parts of the country as altimeters were checked out.
A week earlier, Southwest Airlines grounded 44 planes here in Chicago, after being fined a record $10 million by the FAA for failing to perform required safety inspections.
DePaul University transportation expert Joe Scheweiterman said a more aggressive attitude toward safety by the FAA will mean inspections and grounded flights will become more common.
"The new reality is the FAA is going be tougher. They've made it clear that even small procedural problems aren't going to be tolerated," said DePaul University's Joe Schwieterman, a transportation expert. "And that's going to mean planes grounded and probably going to mean more cancellations down the road for passengers."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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