Investigators of the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have blamed the maintenance workers of American Airlines for the emergency landing of Flight 1400 at Lambert-St Louis International Airport in St Louis, Missouri, the United States, on September 28, 2007.

The United States Transportation Department has found that nine major airlines in the United States outsourced over 70% of their major aircraft maintenance in 2007, compared to 34% in 2003.

A revolutionary technique that would enable a damaged aircraft to “repair itself,” even during a flight, has been developed.