Sir - You attribute to maintenance error three aircraft accidents and 260 fatalities in the Airline Safety Review for 1996 (Flight International, 15-21 January, P31).
Engineering departments/ organisations must act now, to prevent an increase in this statistic. I suggest replacing accountant types with professional engineers at management level. There is also the need to educate corporate bosses on the needs of engineering and get them to adjust the operating schedule to match that of maintenance.
Maintenance recruitment and training need to be stepped up significantly to provide adequate manpower suitable for the task.
All these steps cost money, but would it not be better to implement them from within, rather than wait until the regulatory authorities are forced into imposing them?
NILES ADAMS
Hong Kong
Source: Flight International
