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Forums - General - Holy crap. Airplane mechanics don't speak English?

Galaki on 27 May 2009

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Airline Mechanics Who Can't Read English Are The Guys Reading The Manuals On How To Fix Your Plane

By Lucy Bayly, 7:45 AM on Tue May 26 2009, 7,794 views

Other than drunken pilots, excessive baggage charges, lengthy delays, terrible customer service, and pathetic, expensive food, why wouldn't you choose to travel by air? Well, how about airplane mechanics who don't understand enough English to follow basic repair instructions?

Back in 2003 a US Airways Express flight crashed after take-off, killing 21 people. The NTSB found that mechanics hadn't connected some cables correctly. Because the mechanics couldn't read the labels on the cables. That was six years ago. Yet a Texas ABC affiliate has discovered that there are still "hundreds of mechanics working in aircraft repair shops ... who do not speak English and are unable to read repair manuals for today's sophisticated aircraft."

Certified mechanics (who earn $25+ an hour) are required to oversee the untrained mechanics (who earn <$10 an hour) and record the work they have done. But as one certified mechanic told Dallas's News 8, "They can't read the manuals, they can't write, and I have so many [non-native English speakers] working for me I can't be sure of the work they've done." With airlines pressuring workers to get planes back in the air asap, the supervisors aren't always able to double check the work their non-English-speaking minions have completed. Which means you might be on the plane that wasn't double checked. Airline mechanics who can't read English [WFAA] (Thanks to Karen!)
(Photo:exfordy)

Aren't air travel supposed to be much safer? guess not.



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alekth on 27 May 2009

They are statistically still a lot safer (than cars, probably not safer than trains though I'm not keeping statistics).
But apparently they could be safer still.



vgchartzgirl on 27 May 2009

Scary



Orca_Azure on 27 May 2009

statistics can change :p



Leonidus on 27 May 2009

Lol, Ive been in bombardier factories many times before. If you seen what an aeroplane is made out of, you'd be even more scared.



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Avinash_Tyagi on 27 May 2009

can't they just translate the manuals i'm guessing most of the non english speaking mechanics speak spanish, so shouldn't it be easy to write them in spanish?



 

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Kasz216 on 27 May 2009

Is it just me or have there been more plane crashes since the economic crisis. Not really related... but it seems that way to me.

Considering how lax airplane maintence was in the first place...



Galaki on 28 May 2009
Kasz216 said:
Considering how lax airplane maintence was in the first place...

Odd that I always thought otherwise. Maybe they brainwashed me with TV.



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Words Of Wisdom on 28 May 2009
Kasz216 said:
Is it just me or have there been more plane crashes since the economic crisis. Not really related... but it seems that way to me.

Considering how lax airplane maintence was in the first place...

It may just be that you're hearing about more.



Kasz216 on 28 May 2009
Galaki said:
Kasz216 said:
Considering how lax airplane maintence was in the first place...

Odd that I always thought otherwise. Maybe they brainwashed me with TV.

Nah.  You know how they fix cracks in airplane wings?  Super powered duct tape.

There was a big scandal like right before or right after the airliners all went bankrupt about how they were using speedtape on EVERYTHING.  Even holes way bigger then a baseball.  Which I think is the level your supposed to start fixing without tape.

There are lots of laws on the matter but they aren't really enfocred.  Or at least didn't used to be.