A missing signature might cost Atlantic Southeast Airlines $400,000.
Safety watchdogs at the FAA have proposed the hefty civil penalty against the now defunct regional carrier.
Following some routine maintenance on a Bombardier CRJ in July 2010, ASA is accused of operating 49 revenue flights over an eight day span. The problem: No one signed off on the work.
“ASA maintenance returned the aircraft to service after routine work, but without an authorized signature on the airworthiness release and without an appropriate entry in the aircraft’s flight discrepancy log,” the agency said in a statement.
There was no accusation that the plane was unfit for service or that maintenance was performed incorrectly, but documentation failures are taken very seriously.
ASA ceased to exist as an independent entity in December 2011 when it merged with ExpressJet. Atlantic Southeast had previously operated flights on behalf of Delta Connection and United Express.
