How Safe Is That Plane?

Concerns about the FAA's power to assure that planes are safe, particularly when maintenance is performed abroad, were addressed at a March hearing of the House Aviation Subcommittee.

"U.S. airlines are relying more heavily on foreign contractors to perform everything from routine maintenance to major overhauls," chairman Rep. Jerry Costello (D., Ill.) said at the time. "We must ensure that the FAA has a robust system to oversee maintenance work conducted outside of the U.S."

In a recent report, the Transportation Department inspector general says "the continuous growth in outsourcing underscores the need for the FAA to remain vigilant," adding that the agency lacks adequate systems to determine which repair stations airlines use for critical maintenance or to allocate inspectors to those facilities.

The FAA says it hasn't dropped the ball. "We still do oversight, but the complexion has changed," says Jim Ballough, FAA director of flight standards, in an interview. Increasingly, "inspectors travel from location to location to make sure work is being performed," he says. "No matter where the maintenance is being performed, oversight is provided."

For instance, Ballough says, FAA inspectors travel quarterly to San Salvador, El Salvador, to visit Aeroman, the maintenance division of Taca, the El Salvadoran airline that performs maintenance for carriers including JetBlue(JBLU Quote), US Airways(LCC Quote) and America West.

Improving Oversight

In response to the Charlotte accident, the FAA has been developing regulations that would better identify airline maintenance training rules, says agency spokesman Les Dorr. Other changes in FAA procedures and policies include a requirement that inspectors place special emphasis on outsourced maintenance.