Airline Faults Shifting Rules About Safety

TULSA, Okla. — When American Airlines grounded 3,000 flights last week and stranded hundreds of thousands of passengers, the company’s chief executive apologized by saying he took “personal responsibility” for the safety-compliance problems.

But now the airline, which faces the prospect of more groundings in coming weeks as the Federal Aviation Administration broadens its sweep of inspections, says the F.A.A. deserves much of the blame.

The agency has unfairly changed rules for how airlines must comply with safety orders, called airworthiness directives, and is making unreasonable demands about how much interpretation is allowed, according to engineers at American’s huge maintenance base here.

“We’re confused and frustrated,” said Greg A. Magnuson, lead engineer for MD-80 airframe and systems engineering. The F.A.A. has always given the company “latitude,” he said, for complying with directives by making small variations to resolve any contradictions or ambiguities. And now, those changes, which may be as simple as putting a bolt through a hole so it is facing forward rather than backward, are being highly scrutinized.

“We don’t know what the rules are,” added Andrew Rook, a technical crew chief for avionics.

There are obvious risks for American in publicly criticizing the agency that oversees it, given the F.A.A.’s power to bring the airline to a near-standstill. But after maintenance and oversight lapses at Southwest Airlines, aviation experts say the F.A.A. has toughened its relationship with the industry after years of a more collaborative approach.

Some executives in the industry said last week — though only if they were not quoted by name — that the F.A.A. was overreacting. American is alone, so far, in its questioning of the F.A.A., and its goal appears to be push back on a pendulum that it feels has swung too far.

John Hotard, a spokesman for American, said the company’s chief executive, Gerard J. Arpey, apologized last week because of the inconvenience to its passengers. But looking ahead to the additional audits, Mr. Hotard said the airline — the hardest hit by these recent inspections — is worried because “we do not know what standard, or what preciseness, we will be held to.”

The F.A.A.’s parent agency, the Department of Transportation, has been largely silent on the issue. But on Friday afternoon, Mary E. Peters, the transportation secretary, announced several steps. She said she was asking the F.A.A. and American for their assessments, within 14 days, “of what happened, why it happened and what could have been done differently,” according to a Transportation Department statement.

Ms. Peters also announced the appointment of a commission of senior experts to produce a report in 120 days recommending improvements in the F.A.A.’s “safety culture.” And in another step, the F.A.A. will put in place a system to track when its inspections are overdue.

The government will institute a rule that prohibits F.A.A. inspectors from quitting their jobs, going to work for the airlines and immediately representing the airlines before the F.A.A., she said. It will also change its procedure for allowing airlines to escape all penalties for any problems they report voluntarily to the F.A.A.

In responding to American’s criticisms, F.A.A. officials deny they have changed rules or are being any tougher in their interpretations. Ronald T. Wojnar, acting assistant manager of the F.A.A. aircraft maintenance division, said that something as simple as the direction of a bolt could be crucial.

“It may appear to be a minor detail, but in fact is considered to be safety-related, because an airworthiness directive is based on a known unsafe condition,” he said. Any change from the directive must be analyzed and approved by the F.A.A., “no matter how minor those details appear,” he added.

The airworthiness directive behind the groundings last week addressed how to protect a cable from chafing against bolts on the airplane frame, rubbing off the insulation and creating sparks. A backward bolt could provide a rough edge that would cause damage, he said. The order called for sheathing the cable bundle and securing it precisely.

But American officials argue that some of the rules are contradictory. One of them, for example, called for removing and reusing the fasteners, which in this case were a bolt and a nut clip.

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