Aircraft maintenance is back in the news, due to the Emery Worldwide Airlines accident, in which a DC-8 crashed shortly after takeoff in February 2000. A missing bolt on one of the DC-8’s elevator servo tabs appears to have been a significant factor in the crash, which killed three crewmen.

Two days of hearings by the National Transportation Safety Board were not enough to dig up sufficient information on what might have happened, and the NTSB is planning to schedule more hearings on this accident.

While the crash was tragic and could have been much worse if it had happened in a populated area, this accident is raising issues that could prove embarrassing to aviation. Unfortunately, the general media has latched on to this accident and has noticed what it perceives as a glaring problem highlighted by the crash.

This is the strange double standard that some people feel seems to exist in aviation, the difference between cargo and passenger operations. In an editorial published May 15 by the Dayton (Ohio) Daily News, the issue is revealed for the general public: "Although some question whether maintenance checks and balances for even passenger airlines are good enough, you get the impression that there is a double standard in play—one for cargo operations and another for airlines carrying dozens or hundreds of passengers. That’s a frightening thought for crew members of cargo planes, but it’s also a distinction that doesn’t make sense.

"The cargo planes, because they’re so huge and because they carry large amounts of fuel, can, in a crash, kill any number of people on the ground. Flight 17 plowed through an auto auction yard that could have been crowded with customers...the safety of pilots and the public whom cargo planes are flying over have to be paramount."

The editorial is correct that safety in aviation must be paramount. But is there a double standard when it comes to passenger versus cargo operations?

As much as this accident seems to point to such a double standard, I have to disagree.

There have been plenty of in which maintenance was a factor and the aircraft carried mostly passengers (plus some cargo). There are plenty of operators that maintain their cargo-only aircraft to the same high standards as their passenger fleets.

While the regulations that govern aviation do occasionally distinguish between passenger and cargo operations, when it comes to maintenance standards, there is no difference. Maintenance must be performed using the proper tools, data, and personnel, and to the highest standards of safety.

What this accident has highlighted is that some operators, regretfully, seem not to take maintenance seriously. This is not new to aviation, nor is it going to change tomorrow.

In the Emery situation, the NTSB hearings in early May appear to have produced evidence that the Emery mechanics did not have all the resources they needed to keep those old DC-8s flying safely. If there is a double standard, it may be between old and new aircraft. Who wants to spend a bunch of money developing sophisticated tools and data to keep a bunch of ancient, soon-to-be-scrapped warhorses flying?

But this accident highlights a more important factor than lack of proper resources, and that is the role mechanics play. Mechanics say they are a critical part of aviation safety, which is true. But if maintenance is implicated in this accident, where were the mechanics? Did they adopt a second-class-citizen attitude about these old DC-8s? Did they bring up deficiencies to management? Were they aware of the complaints that Emery pilots had about maintenance problems not getting fixed? If so, why didn’t they do anything about these problems?

As with any tragic occurrence, there is always more to the story. Even though the NTSB is going to make a mighty effort to dig up all possible knowledge related to the Emery accident, the rest of the story will probably remain buried forever. Somebody, somehow forgot something. But it wasn’t just because Emery was a cargo airline. I recall some other DC-8 accidents involving large numbers of passengers and poor safety practices. And it’s not just DC-8s, either.

It comes down to an attitude about safety and maintenance quality. If there is a way of instilling that, then hopefully the NTSB will suggest how to nurture that kind of attitude.

As for the double standard, okay, I’ll admit it exists, but not in aviation, only in the minds of the public. Take a small example: if I were to write two books, one about the fiery ValuJet DC-9 crash in Florida, which killed 110 people, and another about the Emery accident, where three died, which do you think would sell more copies?