Posted on: Tuesday, August 14, 2001
Safety violations ground Emery
USA Today
WASHINGTON — Emery Worldwide Airlines voluntarily halted flights yesterday under threat of a forced shutdown after federal inspectors found more than 100 safety violations.
Emery operates the fifth-largest cargo operation in the rapidly growing air-shipment business. The company said it would deliver packages using other carriers.
"We have lost confidence that the airline can continue to function," said Ava Mims, deputy director of the Federal Aviation Administration division that oversees airlines. "Emery has displayed an inability to take care of the root causes of these problems."
FAA inspectors found that the airline was making improper repairs, operating unsafe jets, using unapproved parts, failing to follow and update its own manuals and inadequately keeping records.
The carrier was under investigation because of accidents and incidents tied to jet maintenance work. On Feb. 16, 2000, three Emery crewmen died when a DC-8 crashed shortly after takeoff. Federal investigators believe a part that steadies the jet failed and are probing whether inadequate maintenance led to the crash. On April 26, an Emery jet crash-landed in Nashville after the wrong part was installed on the landing gear.
The National Transportation Safety Board had planned to hold a hearing next week into the February 2000 fatal crash, but postponed it as a result of the FAA's action. The last time an airline shut down voluntarily for safety reasons was 1996, when ValuJet ceased flights following a fatal crash.
Emery spokesman James Allen said the carrier had been working with FAA inspectors to fix the problems and did not realize how serious the agency was until late last week. Allen said Emery hopes to bring the airline into compliance and resume flying. But he said the airline may continue hiring others to fly its routes if the costs of compliance are too high. Emery agreed to ground its fleet for 30 days.
Emery is a subsidiary of CNF, a trucking and freight holding company. Emery recently lost two large contracts when the U.S. Postal Service opted to use FedEx jets.
The firm furloughed 800 of its 1,100 workers yesterday.
