American Airlines inspects its MD-80 planes after damage to evacuation slides was discovered

American Airlines, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the United States, had to inspect and begin follow-up action in order to bring its fleet of about 270 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft into full compliance with the safety rules after mistakes in maintenance led to damage of the passenger-evacuation slides on the rear of many MD-80 jets.

The airline, a wholly owned subsidiary of AMR Corporation, said in a statement that its crews inspected and tested the exit slides on about 270 MD-80 aircraft a few days ago after a mechanic found out a trouble with the way the rear evacuation slides had been packed and stowed.

American Airlines said it had replaced the rear emergency slides on 11 of its MD-80 jets.
A spokesman for American Airlines was quoted by the website dallasnews.com as saying that the rear emergency slides had been “packed and stowed on the planes without using a tool recommended by the manufacturer.” The tool, according to the spokesman, is intended to stop the inflation tube from getting crushed.

A press release from the United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the agency of the US Department of Transportation with the powers to regulate and oversee all aspects of civil aviation in the US, said “any maintenance violation could potentially result in an enforcement case against the airline.”

Mechanics of American Airlines, the FAA said, initially used an incorrect tool to pack the rear slides into the tail sections of the MD-80 jets in question, leading to damage to the passenger-evacuation systems on a few twin-engine MD-80s. Inspectors later found cracks in tubes, which are used to inflate the rear evacuation slides in the event of an emergency.

However, the FAA press release said that there were no in-flight incidents and that the FAA saw no safety threat since the rapid checks revealed no immediate problems.

American Airlines said the problem with the passenger-evacuation systems on a few of its MD-80s had not affected the airline’s normal schedules. Also, the airline said it did not anticipate any delays or any inconvenience to passengers since the corrective measures would be completed over the next few weeks.
It is the second time in about two weeks that American Airlines was encountering problems over safety gadgets on its planes.

The website nbcdfw.com had reported that American Airlines had been forced to limit the number of passengers on board its Boeing 767 aircraft as a result of concerns that the life-rafts on board were not big enough to accommodate all passengers on the Boeing 767 plane.

Besides, in 2008, a dispute between the US Federal Aviation Administration and American Airlines had led to the grounding of all of the airline’s MD-80 planes. This happened after the FAA voiced concerns about American Airlines’ compliance with a maintenance directive concerning wiring on MD-80 planes.

According to aviation experts, the passenger-evacuation slides are checked once every 18 to 36 months, depending upon how old the aircraft is.

The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft are among the oldest planes with the American Airlines fleet. The carrier has said it would buy Boeing 737 planes to replace gradually its MD-80s.