Opinion

NTSB has duty to check MD-80 jets

Posted August 12, 2008 11:00 pm

I'm just wondering when the NTSB is going to take a long, hard look at American Airline's aging fleet of McDonald Douglas MD-80 jets?

I was in New York last week when it was reported that an AA MD-80, upon takeoff from LaGuardia Airport en route to Atlanta had one of its engines disintegrate and "limped" at a very low altitude across Long Island in order to make an emergency landing on the longer runways of John F. Kennedy Airport.

In the Daily Herald (Aug. 10, "Jet lands safely after reporting problems.") it was reported that an AA MD-80 departing New Orleans, bound for O'Hare, indicated that it was experiencing hydraulic problems prior to landing in Chicago. Thankfully the flight landed without incident.

Wasn't it the maintenance records of the MD-80s that caused American Airlines to cancel numerous flights on two occasions earlier this year?

George Albig

Hoffman Estates

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