Distrust between Southwest airlines mechanics, managers could put passengers at risk: FAA

Months before an airborne accident claimed the life of a Southwest Airlines passenger, the FAA found that distrust between managers and mechanics at Southwest’s Dallas maintenance base was so bad, FAA investigators feared it could put passengers at risk. In an investigation of whistle-blower complaints from Southwest mechanics, the FAA determined that Southwest supervisors discouraged mechanics from reporting some aircraft problems and that supervisors questioned mechanics when they found maintenance issues beyond portions of the plane they had been assigned to inspect. In late October, the FAA reported that Southwest management’s questioning of mechanics appeared to be, “... a tool used to influence a relaxing of standards, to look the other way, or to gain a degree of approval through a leniency of standards.” <br/>