Heard this on NPR this morning. Major ainlines like JetBlue and US Airways. You can read or listen here:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113942431Mistakes In El Salvador
This is just one of at least three troubling maintenance mistakes that mechanics in El Salvador have made recently while fixing US Airways planes. There could be more. But airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration don't make maintenance problems public. NPR first learned about these incidents from mechanics at Aeroman and at US Airways.
The incidents raise questions about a growing practice at US airlines: Since an economic crisis began shaking the industry in 2002, most major airlines have stopped repairing and overhauling most of their own planes (American Airlines is an exception). Instead, they are sending the planes to be fixed for less money by private repair companies. The industry sends about 20 percent of its planes to be fixed at repair shops in developing countries, from El Salvador and Costa Rica to China — because labor rates there are cheapest.
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The Aeroman mechanics, who commonly earn about $5,000 to $10,000 per year, say they're proud of their work.
"It's a great responsibility," one says, sitting under a cactus along a narrow road near San Salvador. "Our supervisors are constantly highlighting to us that our job is not a game. The life of 200, 250 people that are flying depends on us."
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