Florida Injury Lawyer Blog

If you knew how many times you’ve been onboard a flight that should not have been allowed to leave the runway, chances are you’d be far more concerned about airline safety.

According to a study conducted by USA Today and released on February 2, there are an alarming number of flights with mechanical and safety problems that are given clearance to take off when they should have remained on the tarmac. The newspaper’s six-month study found that millions of air travelers were on approximately 65,000 commercial carrier flights that should never have left the ground because the planes had not been properly maintained.

The Federal Aviation Administration, (FAA), the government entity which oversees airline safety compliance, has fined or has proposed fines against 25 commercial air carriers totaling over $28 million. The fines are related to maintenance violations, and occurred over the past 6 years. The most egregious offenses were by Southwest Airlines, which was fined $7.5 million last March. The airline operated 46 aircraft on almost 60,000 flights during 2006 and 2007 without having them undergo mandatory fuselage inspections intended to detect cracks in the body of the planes. The FAA determined that 6 of the planes did have cracks in the fuselage – and also that even though Southwest was aware they had not followed the required inspection routines, they continued to operate the same 46 aircraft for an additional 1,451 flights.

“As a licensed pilot, I can assure you that these are some scary and blatantly shocking issues that are being reported,” says Bruce L. Scheiner, founder and Senior Attorney at the personal injury law firm that bears his name. “And sadly, the FAA does not always document each incident in which a plane with a potential safety issue related to shoddy maintenance has taken off. The potential for a tragic crash is overwhelming.”

The newspaper’s report goes on to say that the cause of the majority of the improper maintenance procedures stems from the airlines’ contracting with outside service providers to take care of aircraft repair work. The sheer numbers of planes, some of which have been in service for a considerable amount of time, make it impossible for the carriers to undertake all of the maintenance and repair issues in-house. Many carriers utilize overseas shops and mechanics that may be less than adequately trained to handle the job, the report says. Although the FAA is charged with overseeing all maintenance and repairs to the country’s fleet of aircraft, the research has indicated that their efforts are far from adequate. The Department of Transportation's Inspector General, Calvin Scovel, has identified many serious maintenance deficiencies during the past nine years. In November, Scovel told a House subcommittee that it "may be months or even years" before FAA inspectors do an on-site review of a repair station after it's approved for use by an airline. “As a result of FAA's flawed approval and untimely inspection processes, maintenance problems either went undetected or reoccurred,” the inspector general said.

Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner Personal Injury Lawyers, P.A. has a team of licensed pilots and credentialed investigators to aid in the fact-finding related to injuries caused by an aircraft crash. With nearly 40 years of personal injury trial experience and a history of fighting for justice on behalf of its clients, the firm is prepared to aggressively represent your legal rights should you or someone you love fall victim to an accident caused by an improperly maintained aircraft. For more details about the results we have achieved for our clients, visit www.focusedonjustice.com, or call 1-800-Dial-BLS.

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They used to service the small towns and rural areas where the large commercial airlines did not provide service, and some used the term “puddle jumpers” to refer to commuter or small, regional airline services. Today, as a result of the economy, mergers and some larger airline companies going belly up, regional airlines are a growing segment of the air transportation industry. However, many passengers, as well as the Federal Aviation Administration, are concerned that the safety standards of both the airplanes and the pilots that fly them may not be up to those of the big commercial carriers.

Almost half of all the flights in the country are operated by regional airlines, and they transport 160 million passengers per year – an increase of 40 percent since 2003. All of the major airlines, such as American, Delta, United, Continental, and US Airways utilize smaller regional carriers to fulfill their routes. Oftentimes, a passenger is unaware that when they purchase a ticket on a major carrier, they will actually be flying a “partner” airline, even though Federal law requires that disclosure. In most cases, regional carriers operate under the names or two-letter codes of the major airlines that hire them. Countless travelers are often surprised when they arrive at their departure gate and see a small, 50-seat aircraft when they were expecting a full-sized commercial jet. Today, it is not uncommon for smaller, regional jets to be used for longer flights than in years past, some for duration of three hours or more.

Some recent incidents involving regional airlines have caused Congress and government regulators to take notice. In February, a flight operated by Colgan Air, owned by a company called Pinnacle Airlines, crashed in Buffalo, New York, killing all 49 people on board, and one on the ground. Investigation of the accident unearthed that the pilots may have had inadequate training and actual flight hours, which may have been a major factor in how they reacted to the warning they received that the plane was about to stall due to icing conditions. The crash has served as a wake-up call for the FAA and those who police the air travel industry, bringing to light serious concerns about pilot training, compensation, hiring practices and even the number of hours a regional pilot and crew are working on each shift of duty. The major carriers require that a pilot applying to fly for them typically have 5,000 to 7,000 hours of flight time under their belts. With the commuter airlines, the standards are much lower – Colgan Air has a pilot on staff that was hired with less than 500 hours of flying time – and that wasn’t even the lowest number of hours among those in his new-hire training class. Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger in his book Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters comments that, “Regional airlines will now take someone with 200 hours of flying experience and make him or her a first officer.”

Largely due to the information discovered after the crash in Buffalo, Congress passed a bill in October of this year that requires all new pilots hired by any airline have a minimum of 1,500 hours of flight time.

Poor Performers
Regional carriers routinely rank at the bottom of the Department of Transportation’s monthly reports on things like baggage handling, denied boarding and on-time performance.

Another area of concern is the fatigue factor – many regional pilots and co-pilots often commute long distances between their homes and the airports they fly out of, which can result in inadequate rest between flights. Roger Cohen, the president of the Regional Airline Association, a trade group, estimates that between 50 to 70 percent of pilots commute thousands of miles from the city where they were, in airline parlance, “domiciled”, in order to report for work. The stunning facts uncovered in the investigation of the Buffalo crash have shocked many people.

The spotlight is now focused on the strikingly low pay for new pilots; the rigors of flying multiple flights, at lower altitudes and thus often in worse weather than pilots on longer routes, while scrambling to get enough sleep; and the relative inexperience of pilots at the smaller airlines, whose training standards are the same, but whose skills may not be.

“Four of the six passenger flights that have crashed since September 11th, 2001, have been commuter flights,” points out PJ Scheiner, an experienced pilot and a personal injury attorney with the firm founded by his father almost four decades ago, Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner Personal Injury Lawyers, P.A. “As pilots ourselves, my father and I recognize the importance of stringent safety standards, extensive training and the amount of experience necessary to safely operate a commuter aircraft,” says Scheiner. “Our aviation experience makes us intimately familiar with the rigors of actually being in the cockpit.”

Aviation accident cases require in-depth expertise and a thorough knowledge of aircraft operation. If you or someone you love has been injured as a result of an airline accident, contact Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Personal Injury Lawyers at 1.800.Dial.BLS or log on to www.focusedonjustice.com

Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, fighting for justice, and aggressively representing your legal rights.

The holidays are here and December is a particularly busy month for the airline industry as we travel to visit family and friends across the United States.

Cabin air pressure can present problems for these travelers. The fuselage of a jet is a pressure vessel. Between every normal takeoff and landing, the cabin pressurizes and depressurizes. While cruising to their destinations, passengers need air (with oxygen) pumped into the cabin to breath. After compressing and cooling it, the engine(s) supply the breathable air. Although the altitude of a Boeing 737 will reach 41,000 feet, the passenger cabin typically attains only 8,000 feet.

Why don’t the pilots pump more air into the cabin, keeping the interior “atmosphere” near sea level? They don’t do this because the pressure differential between the thin outside air and the dense cabin air would be too great, placing excessive stress on the fuselage. As an overfilled balloon pops, a fuselage with too much cabin pressure will crack or burst open. For a B737, relief valves will open automatically to prevent the cabin differential pressure from exceeding 9.1 pounds per square inch (psi). In rare cases, due to undetected structural fatigue, fuselage skins fail even under ordinary conditions. In July a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-300 depressurized after a one-foot hole appeared in its upper fuselage. Fortunately, the aircraft was diverted and landed safely.

More commonly, though still rare, a small hole will open in the cabin skin. Although not explosive, the hole will cause a loss of cabin pressure, and the oxygen masks to drop. After thousands of pressurization cycles, the metal can simply gives way. Fortunately, the airlines inspect their aircraft regularly, sometimes even x-raying fuselages to detect cracks. Their vigilance allows passengers to breath easily.

Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Personal Injury Lawyers not only has aviation experts who have a solid understanding of the complex issues surrounding aviation accidents, they are experienced pilots. Put their experience to work for you by contacting 1.800.DialBLS or www.focusedonjustice.com

The Florida injury lawyers at Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Personal Injury Lawyers, begin 2009 with a new toll-free phone number, 1-800-Dial-BLS.

Whether you are injured in a car accident, motorcycle accident, truck accident or are the victim of a drunk driving crash or other personal-injury or wrongful-death situation, representatives are available 24 hours a day at 1-800-Dial-BLS to review your case.

The firm has four decades of experience handling car accidents and other personal injury cases throughout Southwest Florida, including Fort Myers, Naples, Cape Coral, Arcadia, Port Charlotte, Venice and Sebring.

Started in 1971 by Bruce L. Scheiner, the family-run firm is dedicated to representing Florida residents who have been injured by the negligent or careless acts of other individuals, businesses or insurance companies.

The firm has never worked for big businesses or insurance companies and practices exclusively in the area of personal injury law. Unlike many other firms, which split their attention between personal injury cases and other types of law, like divorce, real estate and criminal cases, Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Personal Injury Lawyers, is a team of almost 100 professionals dedicated to fighting for justice for those how have been injured or killed in Florida.

Bruce L. Scheiner still hand selects each case the firm represents. Together with his wife Cheryl, who runs the office, and son, Preston J. Scheiner, who is an associate attorney, the Scheiner team is dedicated to getting you and your loved ones the compensation you deserve.

After four decades of service in Southwest Florida, there promise to you is simple: at Associates and Bruce L. Scheiner, Personal Injury Lawyers, you'll pay nothing unless we win.

Look for the new toll-free hotline throughout Southwest Florida, on billboards, on television, in the yellow pages and online.

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