By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX –
The Federal Aviation Administration is close to wrapping up a two-year investigation of safety violations at American Airlines that could result in one of the largest fines in the agency's history, according to government and industry officials familiar with the investigation.
Separately, the Transportation Department's inspector general is due to release an audit in the next several days that criticizes FAA for lax oversight of aircraft maintenance at American, the officials said Tuesday.
The FAA safety investigation involves improperly secured wiring in 290 MD-80s in American's fleet. The loose fastening resulted in damage to wiring in several dozen planes and, in at least a handful of cases, electrical arcing a discharge of electricity that presents a potential fire threat, according to the officials, who asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.
As a result of the safety violations, FAA temporarily grounded hundreds of planes in April 2008, wreaking havoc in the travel schedules of thousands of passengers.
FAA officials have not yet determined the amount of the fine that will be proposed against American, but it will probably be in the same ballpark as the $10.2 million fine the agency proposed against Southwest Airlines in March 2008, the officials said.
The Southwest fine, the largest ever proposed by FAA, was the result of nearly 60,000 flights made on planes that had missed required examinations for structural cracks. It was settled for $7.5 million in March 2009.
FAA spokesman Lynn Lunsford said the agency's investigation is not yet complete and it would be premature to comment on the amount of any fine that might be proposed.
American spokesman Tim Wagner said the airline isn't aware of any pending fine. The airline has long said the safety of its aircraft was never jeopardized.
Exotic animals seized in Arlington up for adoption
Wanna iguana? WildRescue Inc. is coordinating the adoption of about 2,000 of the animals seized in a Dec. 15 raid at U.S. Global Exotics in Arlington. Maura Davies with the SPCA of Texas says WildRescue will help find homes for animals that her group "would have had a hard time placing."
The hamsters, fancy mice, lizards, snakes, iguanas and other small animals will be offered at more than 20 Petco stores in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The animals were among the 27,000 seized by Arlington over inhumane conditions. The pet wholesaler on Jan. 30 lost its appeal of a judge's order that bars the return of the exotic creatures to the company. SPCA of Texas has placed many of the seized animals with zoos, sanctuaries and welfare groups.
Condemned man who used cell phone gets death date
A condemned killer whose use of a smuggled cell phone prompted a lockdown of the entire Texas prison system has received an execution date. Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials say they've received legal paperwork that sets May 20 as the date for the lethal injection of 31-year-old Richard Tabler.
He was convicted of fatally shooting two men in Killeen on Thanksgiving weekend five years ago. He achieved more recent notoriety for his threatening calls - using an illegal cell phone - to state Sen. John Whitmire.
Those calls resulted in a sweep of all Texas prisons for contraband and uncovered hundreds of illegal phones, phone equipment and weapons.
Wichita Falls supermarket worker accused of theft
Police say a now-former bookkeeper at a Wichita Falls grocery store is accused of embezzling more than $680,000. Debra Jones Blaine was in the Wichita County Jail on Wednesday on a charge of theft over $200,000. A jail spokeswoman, Charlotte Wallace, told The Associated Press she had no record of bail set or an attorney for Blaine.
Wichita Falls police Sgt. Joe Snyder says a King's Food store reported more than $681,000 unaccounted for from January 2005 to November 2009. Police say no funds have been recovered.
The owner in December told police he suspected Blaine was changing the total amounts transferred from daily sheets to the weekly ledger, then pocketing the difference. Snyder says the theft allegedly involved transactions related to food stamps.
A store manager declined comment.