Four more US air carriers come under FAA's safety scanner

Washington: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said Wednesday it is investigating four airlines that may have failed to comply with air safety rules. FAA officials said an audit of maintenance programmes of US air carriers had identified at least four airlines that had failed to comply with safety inspection requirements at varying levels of complexity.

The regulator said at least two carriers had failed to complete inspections of wire bundles for the auxiliary hydraulic pump,  a third had not submitted a compliance plan while a fourth had failed to complete inspections which were supposed to be performed on a regular basis.

The FAA refused to identify the four carriers involved citing ongoing investigations.

These revelations have now emerged even as regulators and airline executives will be making an appearance on Capitol Hill to discuss potential lapses in safety oversight with US congressmen.

Meanwhile, FAA officials tried to take the sting out of any developing apprehensions regarding the safety status of airlines by saying that the carriers were in compliance with the agency's airworthiness directives 99 per cent of the time.

Of the 2,392 audits FAA safety inspectors conducted over a two-week period, only 34 raised red flags and seven prompted the investigations of the four carriers.

"We are currently experiencing the safest period in aviation history," Robert Sturgell, the FAA's acting administrator, said at a news conference at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. "That's not chance. It's not a miracle. It's the result of an entire industry making safety its driving focus."