I have to call
on several parts of this story.
The report documents several maintenance incidents at American, including an aircraft that flew for 877 days with a broken emergency slide. According to Reuters, American said it reported the slide issue as soon as it was discovered in line with its maintenance program procedures, but the FAA said that because the problem was not given a high enough risk assessment, it did not get the attention it should have, allowing the plane to fly with insufficient safety equipment.
A broken slide either stops an aircraft in its tracks with a mx ferry to the nearest repair station, or requires a large amount of blocked off seats to continue, and then only as far as the next repair station. It certainly is not going to be allowed to fly for over 2 years in that condition. A responsible Captain would refuse the aircraft. The same would be true for the dispatch group. I cannot believe that anybody at American would let this go on.
Another case revealed American failed to risk assess an engine that had incorrectly installed struts, which secure the engine in place. Without the risk assessment prompting a fix of the problem, which is how safety systems at airlines are intended to work, the plane flew 1,002 flights when it shouldn't have been flying at all, according to the DOT.
What struts? And the engine in question didn't have any engine maintenance in 1,002 flights which would be at least 1000 hours of flying time? I don't believe that for a second. Same as above, I cannot believe for a second that the folks at American would allow that to continue.
I think it's just a very poorly written story. Perhaps someone thinks the SMS code assigned these incidents should have been higher? If so, that's nice but the MEL's involved would be a much more immediate concern to all involved as there are strict time limits and legalities involved. Something is fishy with this story.
https://www.businessinsider.com/faa-oversight-of-american-airlines-safety-programs-is-insufficient-2021-10
What's the point of an open door policy if inside the open door sits a closed mind?