FAA faulted for laxness on repair outsourcing

As a retired pilot from a major airline I can assure anyone that the present day maintenance programs are based solely on cost. They are unsafe, most of the problems do not result in major crashes rather brake failure, gear failure, electrical fires are the norm. There is every chance we will see a major crash at anytime. Some old and venerable carriers are the most involved, such as Delta, once the gem of aircraft and engine maintenance programs that were once totally inhouse are now nearly fully out sourced.
Personally I drive when I can..

Many people keep calling for smaller government, not taking into consideration what the govt does.    Wouldn't a smaller govt mean smaller depts and thus less people employed to do inspections?     Wouldn't this mean that with less oversight/inspections that there will be more likelihood of a disaster happening. 

Why are they bothering to spend so much money on national security when they are outsourcing your safety anyway.   

Who is to say that, in one of these countries where the outsourcing of these maintenance programs are, that someone couldn't add or subtract something  that could eventually result in some disaster. 

How many people really believe that someone is going to take something on an aircraft post 9/11 without being caught even before they get to the airport.     On the other hand can anyone say the same for some maintenance center abroad where the safety issues may be a bit lax?

Why did the govt allow all this continuous outsourcing of high income jobs to take place and if nothing else may have allowed an opening into their security shield?  Aside from the jobs and high/ great income  lost by qualified people, lowering the tax base all the while making this country dependent on the expertise of others under the guise of the greatness of being a participant in a so called global economy that would help the people of America. 

While other countries were hunkering down and protecting their own enterprises while giving a certain amount of lip service to the idea of global economy.  In a New York minute they cover their own while the USA is holding on to the idea of free markets while the only free market is in the USA.  When the financial markets melted down these other countries jumped in quickly to partially nationalize their banks and other financial institution that were in trouble while in the USA there are those who are still holding on to the same ideas that got the country in the mess it is in, in the first place.   While they were contemplating whether to put a hold on short selling  and the effects that would have on the market other countries had simply protected their own companies by putting a hold on short selling.

It appears that the people of the USA has been sold or is being a sold a load of crap and now they are to somehow afford to pay for the mistakes of  the same companies and institutions that outsourced their good paying jobs and putting them also at financial risk, with the distinct possibility of losing their homes at the same time. 

Couple of months ago it was the FDA  and the inability to find out where the tainted food/vegetables was coming from, now its the FCC. Wonder which agency will be next.

It's all about cheap labor. The airlines want to bypass their in-house maintenance divisions, which are staffed by union labor.

So not only are the airlines shafting the flying public by charging us for everything from checked bags to pillows and blankets, but they could be compromising our safety by having repairs done by people they may or may not be doing everything up to FAA safety standards. But we won't know for sure until a catastrophe takes place. That seems to always be the case. I try not to have to fly, so I don't have to pay for what should be included with your ticket. But I got to say, the part that really ticks me off is they took our money a few years back, remember? The air line bail out? And now they are sending jobs to other countries that should be done here. It's bad enough they took the tax dollars, but now they aren't even having as much payroll tax to pay in the states, which also means people lost jobs here. I think there should be an conditions on any of these bailouts that they can't ship jobs overseas unless they pay back all the money they are given from tax payers first. Why should we keep letting business do this to us? There has to be a bit more equity for the average American taxpayer. 

Just another example of how the economy that has failed over the past 8 years costs us so much:  unsafe outsourcing, tax cuts, lax oversight for the big boys because of too few inspectors, high cost of doing business...thanks GOP/Bush.  Yes, people, they are the government that allowed sweetheart dealings for their 'equals', allowed outsourcing and the loss of jobs, too many tax cuts to the highest earners, ignoring the problems, the list is almost endless.  After all, what's a little collateral damage and loss?

The repair stations in the US used to be a haven for mechanics to gain experience and prepare for a position with one of the major airlines. Now the only people working at these facilities are mechanics who couldn't reclassify into another industry, unlicensed workers and Mexican nationals who by the way as grown from to account for about 80% of the workforce at one facility in AZ. They can't read the service manuals, sign off any paperwork  and for the most part can't even communicate with the American mechanics. All this is made possible by all the temp. contract companies who fail to conduct proper background checks and the drive to cut costs while chasing the all mighty dollar.  Our illustrious government didn't help one bit! One condition of the airline bailout was for the airline to cut costs which they did eninitially but later took to the extremes. So folks you see all of this is sanctioned by our government. When they talked about a fair playing field take it with a grain of salt. Anytime it's said to induce competition, get ready... just the opposite will happen, and we are the ones who will usually pay the cost.

I have worked in airline maintenance since the 60's.  I have dealt with and visited with FAA inspectors over the years and most have said there aren't enough of them.  They always seem short of enough people to get their work done.  Several times the FAA has obviously lengthened inspection intervals and assigned some inspection work to the airlines.  If Congress and the public are upset about the state of FAA oversight they need to allocate a lot more funds so the FAA can do their job properly.