By Rob Cribb, Tamsin Mcmahon, Fred
Vallance-Jones
The Hamilton Spectator
(Jun 13, 2006)
Air Canada Jazz has suspended four mechanics
a day after they publicly raised concerns about
safety at the airline.
Dave Avella, Gianni Ballestrin, Grant Anastas
and Ron Anstey, all mechanics at Jazz' Toronto
facility, were suspended with pay pending an
investigation by the airline into comments they
made, including allegations that they are
pressured to release planes with defects that
could compromise public safety.
Meanwhile, Transport Canada yesterday said it
was launching an audit into Jazz's mechanical
operations in the next three months. Lucy
Vignola, a spokesperson for the regulator, said
inspectors will examine the airline's mechanical
standards for compliance with federal
regulations. She says the regulator was not
aware of the specific allegations made by the
four mechanics and that it needs detailed
information about incidents in order to properly
investigate.
Debra Williams, a Jazz spokesperson, said the
airline will investigate the mechanics'
allegations.
"The suspensions are so we can have some time
to review the concerns raised in the article,
and why the mechanics chose to take that avenue
when there are numerous internal options
available to them," said Williams. "Pending the
results of the investigation we'll see what
transpires but we want the opportunity to review
the concerns they raised in the article."
Swift action against the four whistleblowers
is an attempt to silence important public
information the public has a right to hear, said
NDP transportation critic Peter Julian.
"What we are seeing increasingly is a drive
for more secrecy and a drive to muzzle
whistleblowers and I do not believe it's in the
public interest," he said. "What is more
fundamental for the public domain than essential
safety information and knowing about violations
of safety standards that might be taking place?"
Several Jazz mechanics who spoke with
reporters, including the four who spoke
publicly, say they've lodged complaints with
Transport Canada inspectors about conditions at
Jazz without response. The comments of the four
mechanics included allegations that they are
forced to cut corners in order to avoid costly
delays in flight schedules, that some mechanical
procedures are done in breach of regulations and
that there's a poor level of training and
scrutiny over mechanical repairs at the airline.
The four mechanics were among a dozen Jazz
employees who raised safety concerns with
reporters in interviews over the past three
months. But they were the only ones quoted by
name. While they had concerns about
repercussions, they said they spoke out because
public safety was more important than any
disciplinary action. The other eight withheld
their names because they feared repercussions.
Several mechanics who spoke with reporters
agreed that a Jazz aircraft takes off with
mechanical defects, on average, about once a
week. The Jazz mechanics who spoke with
reporters said they refuse to release planes
with defects into service. But they say in many
cases their superiors simply find another
mechanic to sign the paperwork releasing the
plane -- or sign it out themselves -- to avoid
delays.
Some of the mechanics, including Anstey, say
they are nervous flying their own airline.
Jazz, the subject of a highly critical audit
by Transport Canada in 2003, denied all of the
allegations in a written statement which said
the airline "never compromises safety ... While
on-time performance is definitely a goal at
Jazz, we never sacrifice safety in order to
achieve an on-time flight departure." The
airline has had several high-profile mechanical
incidents in the past several years including a
2002 incident in which a three-foot-long piece
of the leading edge of the wing of a Jazz Dash 8
fell off on takeoff in Toronto. A Transportation
Safety Board (TSB) investigation found the
potentially tragic mishap -- triggered by 14
missing screws that should have secured the part
on the wing -- was caused by sloppy maintenance
and the "undesirably low" ratio of experienced
to inexperienced mechanics.
The company attributed the incident to human
error.
A 2003 audit by Transport Canada audit of the
airline found "the focus of the maintenance and
operations departments was compromised to the
extent that several of the most basic regulatory
and quality control tasks had deteriorated." The
company says those problems have been corrected.
A year later, pilots of another Jazz Dash 8
on a Toronto-to-Kingston route declared an
emergency due to loose nuts in the plane's pitch
control system that fell off. A TSB
investigation found deficiencies in Jazz's
mechanical procedures. The company says it took
"immediate corrective action in response to the
incident by implementing changes to its
maintenance and flight operations procedures."
Tim Pearce, vice-president of the union
representing Jazz' 750 mechanics, said he
received word yesterday afternoon from company
management that the four mechanics were being
suspended for breaching the company's media
relations policy.
fvallance-jones@thespec.com
905-526-2499
How safe are our skies?
For the past seven months reporters from The
Hamilton Spectator, Toronto Star and The Record
of Waterloo Region have been asking questions
about air safety. What they found is a flight
safety system straining at the seams.
Four mechanics with Jazz were
suspended pending a probe by the
airline into comments they made.
