American Grounds S80's Again - Cancels up to 500 flights

[AA 777]

Here we go again. Looks like they are going to reinspect the wire bundles on the gear that they already reinspected. Sounds like the FAA is really going to be coming down on airlines in the future. The press release says they dont know how many flights will cancel because of this, but it could be up to 500 :shock:

https://www.aa.com/content/amrcorp/pressReleases/2008_04/08_md80.jhtml

[T-Bird76]

Well look at it this way. PPL heading to LGA from ORD were prob delayed anyway...this just extends the delay a tad ;)

I guess DAL will follow...? BTW....why didn't this inspection affect Midwest or Allegiant?

[NYCMedic]

Did anyone else hear Diana Williams on Channel 7 refer to the A/C as "Mid 80" aircraft?

[Alex T]

Well look at it this way. PPL heading to LGA from ORD were prob delayed anyway...this just extends the delay a tad ;)

I guess DAL will follow...? BTW....why didn't this inspection affect Midwest or Allegiant?

I think DL was cleared, and these inspecting revealed AA's MX failed to solve or fix the wiring problem. So it is airline specific, and allegiant or midwest wouldn't be having the problem, and if I recall they were already sought out by the FAA, but cannot confirm that either.

Alex

[PHL Approach]

No wonder why the FIDS monitors showed 5 cancelled ORD flights and 4 cancelled to DFW.

[Midnight Mike]

If this keeps up, we are going to need a score card....

American expects more cancellations

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080409/ap_ ... cellations (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080409/ap_on_bi_ge/american_airlines_cancellations)

DALLAS - American Airlines expected to cancel more flights Wednesday — and perhaps beyond — as it tried for a second time to comply with federal rules about wiring on about 300 of its planes.


Airline officials said they canceled about 500 flights Tuesday but didn't know how many would be scrubbed Wednesday. It depended on how quickly the airline could inspect and, if necessary, rework the wiring in its MD-80 aircraft.

American operates about 2,300 daily flights, and more than one-third use MD-80s, most commonly on midrange flights from hub airports in Dallas and Chicago.

[mirrodie]

An interesting graphic I picked up on dallasnews.com

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... nesart.pdf (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/03-08/0309busoldplanesart.pdf)

If only they were talking about dc-8s in service ;)

[Midnight Mike]

American Air cancels 850 flights for inspections

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080409/bs_ ... lations_dc (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080409/bs_nm/amr_cancellations_dc)

[Matt Molnar]

Wagner said an FAA inspector checked several MD-80s Monday and found that some of the wiring work performed two weeks ago didn't meet FAA standards. At issue: the spacing and direction of cords used to secure bundles of wires in the planes' auxiliary hydraulic systems.
The FAA inspected the work done on 19 jets, and 15 failed. :shock:

[Matt Molnar]

With AA estimating at least 100 pax per flight, this means over 100,000 travelers have been delayed or stranded since yesterday.

[Midnight Mike]

With AA estimating at least 100 pax per flight, this means over 100,000 travelers have been delayed or stranded since yesterday.

Wow!


could continue beyond Wednesday as the airline works on its fleet of 300 MD-80 jets.

By Wednesday morning, only 30 of the planes were back in service.

[moose135]

An interesting graphic I picked up on dallasnews.com

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... nesart.pdf (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/img/03-08/0309busoldplanesart.pdf)

If only they were talking about dc-8s in service ;)
That actually looks like a Pan Am 707 in that graphic. Talk about old airplanes...

[stuart schechter]

Mike, 850 is a petty number for AA. Try 1,100+ flights cancelled

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld ... 6910.story (http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-fi-american10apr10,1,3996910.story)

[AA 777]

Another 900 already cancelled for tomorrow. I cant help but to feel sorry for the front line employees that have to deal with the pax. Theres only so much you can do in situations like this. Lets just hope this gets fixed and everything back to normal soon.

Not to mention the FAA Inspectors need to get their act together......

[Midnight Mike]

Not to mention the FAA Inspectors need to get their act together......

Blame the airlines for this mess, the FAA is there for oversight & not to inspect each & every airplane.


The Federal Aviation Administration found lapses in American's compliance with an earlier order for how wiring bundles on the planes are attached to the jets' wheel wells, leading to the airline's decision yesterday to ground the jets.


American said late on Wednesday that it had so far inspected 179 MD-80 planes, of which 119 still needed more work. The company said 60 were returned to service, and 121 remained to be inspected. Each MD-80 must be cleared by an FAA inspector before returning to service.

[SmAlbany]

I think that the impact on traffic at DFW is interesting.

Looking at flight aware, the peak number of flights per hour goes from 120 on tuesday to less than 80 on Wednesday.

http://flightaware.com/analysis/graphs/airport/KDFW

[Matt Molnar]

I think that the impact on traffic at DFW is interesting.

Looking at flight aware, the peak number of flights per hour goes from 120 on tuesday to less than 80 on Wednesday.
Great find.

AA expects 170 MD-80s to be back in service Friday morning, but will still cancel 570 flights.

[Ari707]

is american rerouteing other planes to use to citys that only get md-80 service?