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CNN Live Saturday

Pilots Call for Grounding All Airbus Planes

Aired January 26, 2002 - 22:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Italian police report a big seizure of Airbus A-300 jet parts with bogus certifications in a warehouse in Rome. They say that they are investigating an international ring of trafficking in parts for planes like this one, parts, that may be faultily certified as new or properly inspected. An Airbus A-300, as you know, crashed in New York last November, killing 265 people.

And that fatal crash has a group of American Airlines pilots quite concerned. They're calling for the grounding of all Airbus planes until investigators find out just what caused that crash. Here's CNN's Charles Feldman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Nothing like this has apparently ever happened in the history of commercial aviation -- a jumbo jet crashes after its tail fin falls off. About 60 pilots who fly the Airbus for American Airlines are supporting a petition asking the plane be grounded until they know what caused this tragedy.

"Are we completely comfortable putting our friends and family on an A-300?" the pilots ask. "If the answer to that question is not a resounding yes, then logic would lead a well trained pilot to conclude that no one else should be flying on them either."

Pilots are particularly concerned about the Airbus A-300 tail, made of carbon fibers glued together to form what's called a composite. American says it has visually examined its 34 other A-300 jets and has not found anything wrong. The human eye cannot see flaws inside the composite material, but ultrasound tests can.

DEBRA CHUNG, COMPOSITES EXPERT: If one just looks from the outside, you can only see defects when they are already very drastic. And that's not what we want. We want to see the defects before they become very dangerous.

FELDMAN: American Airlines declined an on camera interview. In a statement, American says the concerned pilots are "well intentioned" but "lack the scope of information" needed to evaluate the safety of the Airbus.

American says it won't take action against the pilots who organized the petition. But at least one pilot was called in for a disciplinary hearing.

Fifty-six airlines fly the A-300 worldwide, and since the plane is built by a European group, any decision to ground it by a U.S. airline may be a political hot potato.

JIM MCKENNA, AVIATION EXPERT: They would argue, rightfully, so that in the past several years we've had major questions, major uncertainty about the causes of crashes involving Boeing 737s, involving Boeing 747s. In none of those instances did anybody seriously entertain the idea of grounding the airplane.

FELDMAN (on camera): More than 2,000 Airbuses fly today with similar tails, and until now their safety record has been excellent. But use of composite materials in jetliners is still relatively new. And no one can be sure yet how much wear and tear they will take.

Charles Feldman, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CALLAWAY: Right now, we want to talk more about this issue with a man who represents the Allied Pilot's Association. Sam Mayer is joining us from our New York bureau. Mr. Mayer, thank you for being with us.

SAM MAYER, ALLIED PILOTS ASSOCIATION: Good evening, Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Good evening to you. First, let's get an update on the petition who it's been circulated to. How many members could possibly sign this if they wanted to? And how many have signed it?

MAYER: Well, at the last count that I took, there's approximately 410 to 420 active crew members on the A-300 throughout the system in American Airlines. I believe talking to one of the signatories to the petition, they're up to around -- somewhere between 60 and 70 people have signed it at this time.

CALLAWAY: Certainly not a majority, is it?

MAYER: No, not a majority, but I don't think we can give their concern short shrift either. They do raise some very valid questions that they're asking. And I think their concern is that they're not getting the answers at this time.

CALLAWAY: Yeah, what, in your opinion, are the valid questions that they're asking?

MAYER: Well, you have an instance of an aircraft, where inexplicable, the tail fell off. We're now more than two months out from that accident. And we're no closer in a lot of people's minds, to understanding what happened. Our union's position is it's now the time to ground the airplanes, based on the science. In working with the NTSB and the investigation, we just aren't there yet. We're not convinced that that's the prudent thing to do. These ladies and gentlemen that have signed the petition are a little bit out in front of us on that. CALLAWAY: So what happens, are they going to continue to circulate this petition for a while?

MAYER: Well, you know, it's a grassroots effort. I'm their union leader. I was elected by the members in New York to represent them on our unions board of directors. I'm friends with a lot of the ladies and gentlemen that have signed that petition. I hope they voted for me. So I have to represent them. Talking to them, they firmly believe that they're doing the right thing. And I think they intend to continue until they do get those answers.

CALLAWAY: And as stated in the petition, which I read, they understand the ramifications of shutting down these -- grounding these aircraft?

MAYER: Sure. I mean, a union is there, generally speaking, to increase jobs and to maximize the pay of the members of that union. But we're in a business where safety trumps everything. If it's determined at the end of the day that that's the right thing to do, safety prevails. And I have no trouble looking my members in the eyes and saying, "We've lost some jobs and you're taking some pay cuts because we grounded the airplanes," if that's the right thing to do.

CALLAWAY: I didn't see anywhere where there was a request for a work stoppage in this at all.

MAYER: No, this isn't about a labor-management dispute. This is about safety, the safety of our crews, the safety of our passengers.

CALLAWAY: I wanted to ask you quickly about the report that's coming out of Italy. The Italian police saying that they've seized the A-300 jet parts with bogus certifications. Any reaction from any of the pilots to you?

MAYER: To be honest with you, Catherine, the first time I heard that was just moments ago on the report. And it's troubling that that happened. I would hope that that has no bearing on this particular investigating.

CALLAWAY: All right, Sam Mayer, thank you for being with us today and discussing this.

MAYER: Thank you very much.

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