Many Delta pilots contact me with deep concerns for maintenance amongst other things. A captain explained the most recent event where maintenance pushed the plane into service without due diligence.
2 FMGS faults in a A320
“As we got to the airplane the previous crew wrote up the FCU not responding intermittently. MX reset it and then left while the aircraft was doing a full alignment.
After IRU alignment, the FO’s ND map wasn’t displaying and said select offside FM. I tried it and it worked how ever it wouldn’t reset when selecting a different range. I tried a full IRU alignment again and the ND did the same thing on the CA ND.
I called MX back out and they reset w/CBs the FMGS.
No annotation placed in the logbook. In the climb out on my leg the FMGS partly reverted to managed speed and HDG mode and the map temporarily failed with set offside FM displayed. We reengaged managed speed and navigation on the arrival. I checked the centralized fault display system (CFDS) and it said FMGS 1 and 2 had experienced faults.
As we began our decent, I noticed while in managed speed and using vertical speed the system experienced a “slow over “ where the speed was significantly under the set managed speed. Vertical speed is a variable speed mode and should be trying to keep the engine power settings enough to maintain the set managed speed set. We of course wrote this up and show the mechanic via video what was going on. He went to the his manuals, did a test then said there were no faults detected. I was perplexed and ask if there were no faults detected why was the CFDS reporting faults? He laughed and shrugged it off, signed it off and we were off to the next destination as we were getting closed to timing out where we were.
While we were in cruise, the FO was trying to insert a cost index that was a bit higher than planned and the FMGS would not take it. It then displayed oddly below the FMA “speed select 289” in cyan. This should not be displayed in cruise or descent. We wrote this up again. When we got back to base, they took the aircraft to the hanger.”
No Union Protection for Mechanics at Delta
This is not the first email I have received with respect to maintenance pushing planes to the flight line. Yet there is no protection for mechanics at Delta, and when they do speak out, they are subject to retaliation. Back in 2019, Aviation Maintenance Technician, Mark Wheeler communicated to his supervisors, and then the FAA, that Delta Air Lines tooling equivalency process was not compliant with Federal Standards. One of Mark’s communications concerned Delta’s failure to comply with an FAA Airworthiness Directive for over fourteen years. His reports concerned the maintenance of aircraft engine wiring harnesses, which are related to the electrical systems that control airplane functions, and Delta retaliated.
How Does this Delta Captain Feel About Profit Over Maintenance?
“I am becoming increasingly concerned about coming to work due to what I perceive as a growing casual mindset toward maintenance at Delta. This concern extends beyond my own safety to the safety of others, including my family. I am not stating that Delta is unsafe to fly; rather, I believe certain maintenance policies may be eroding safety margins. I do not believe it is management’s intention to operate unsafely. However, I am concerned that the collective vision of leadership has become increasingly narrow and focused primarily on revenue and the appearance of safety, unintentionally creating blind spots in actual risk mitigation. The question becomes: safe for whom? Rather than relying solely on my perspective, I would point to the increase in publicly reported incidents at Delta and allow those events to inform this discussion.” Delta Captain
What can we do to shift the culture of profit to safety at any airline? Is it even possible?
