2/17/00
Emery pilots warned of safety problems
The four-engine freighter jet crashed into
an auto salvage yard Wednesday about 13 minutes after taking off at
The crew was attempting to return to the airport
after declaring an emergency and reporting that the airplane had "an
extreme center of gravity problem," according to the National
Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the accident. That could
mean, among other possible causes, a shift in load, incorrect cargo weight or
mechanical problems, Preston Hicks of the NTSB said Thursday.
Investigators were trying to locate the
plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder in the smoking
wreckage, Hicks said. The plane, carrying a load of transmission fluid,
clothing and a small packet of detonators for auto air bags, was at 800 feet
when it tried to return for an emergency landing. The airplane, bound for
Emery's air freight hub at
All three crewmembers died in the crash. An
Emery spokesman identified them as Capt. Kevin Stables, 43, of
It was Emery's first fatal airplane crash.
Emery began flying cargo in 1989.
In a prepared statement, Emery called the
DC-8 "the backbone of Emery's air cargo fleet. The company has 38 DC-8s in
its fleet and they are a very reliable aircraft for us."
Investigators have not determined the cause
of the crash, but in the past two years Emery pilots have complained of
improper loading as a safety concern in both internal "flight debrief"
reports and in letters to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Emery pilots and the company are in the
process of negotiating the pilots' first labor contract.
The identification number on the plane that
crashed was N8079U. In August 1998, the same plane was forced to return to
Tampa International Airport in Florida after one of its engines flamed out,
according to the pilots' flight debrief report on the incident filed with
Emery.
In a separate incident at Mather Field last May, the plane's crew became trapped in
the cockpit when the cockpit doorknob broke off,
according to the flight debrief report on the incident. The previous crew had
written up the doorknob in the maintenance log, but a mechanic had written
"cockpit door ops OK," the report said. The flight was delayed for
three hours while a contract mechanic went to a Home Depot store for parts,
according to the report.
The same airplane had problems with cabin
pressure and a deicing system last May, according to a pilot report by Emery
Capt. Mark Luthi. But on Thursday, Luthi said the DC-8 that crashed "was one of our
better planes."
He said there was "no way to
speculate" about what caused the airplane to crash.
The Dayton Daily News last June reported
that the FAA is investigating an Emery manager's allegations of numerous
violations of federal hazardous materials regulations, including shipping
hazardous materials without adequate documentation, failing to notify pilots of
hazardous cargo on board their aircraft and concealing problems from FAA
inspectors.
Emery's Allen Thursday declined to discuss
the pilots' safety complaints. In a prepared statement given the newspaper late
last year, Emery said the pilots' safety concerns "are either old news and
have since been reviewed by the FAA, or are presently under review."
"Overall, our safety record speaks for
itself," said Rocco A. Sacci, Emery's director
of corporate communications. "The FAA's looking at us all the time.
They're looking at all the airlines all the time. This is a heavily regulated
industry. We are in compliance with the requirements of the FAA."
In recent years, Emery pilots have filed
reports with the company about overloaded airplanes, engines quitting on
takeoff, brakes failing on landing, loss of hydraulic pressure in flight
control systems, and broken navigation gear.
The reports also include allegations that
maintenance crews sometimes kept airplanes flying by signing off faulty
equipment as repaired, or repeatedly putting off maintenance on items that
continued to fail in flight. In at least two cases, pilots refused to fly an
airplane after they discovered that repairs had not been made.
FAA safety managers said they have
investigated many of the pilots' reports, some of which remain under
investigation. The complaints have not resulted in any enforcement actions by
the FAA.
However, FAA safety managers last year said
the FAA "is focused" on Emery's airline operations.
Last month, the agency launched its second
major inspection of Emery Worldwide, known as a "regional airline safety
inspection," in less than a year. The second inspection coincides with the
transfer of Emery's airline certificate _ and the responsibility for inspecting
Emery _ from an FAA district office in
Among the incidents still under
investigation is one from
Suspecting the airplane was heavier than
their paperwork said, the captain increased the
airplane's landing speed when it arrived in
Had the crew used the weight figures ground
loaders provided to calculate their landing speed, the airplane would have
descended too quickly and "we could have ended up in the approach
lights," the captain reported.
An FAA safety manager said the agency
verified the heavier weight and is still investigating the incident.
Another in-flight emergency occurred over
Emery Capt. Thomas G. Rachford
reported the airplane resisted his efforts to raise or lower its nose or turn
in either direction. He also heard a loud roar. Moments later, the
Rachford tried to return to the airport, but the large cargo
door jutted from the plane's side like a second rudder. As it
turned, the DC-8 swayed and "made a horrific noise" as the cargo door
slammed against the plane's upper side, according to the report.
Concerned the door could rip off and smash
into the wing or tail, Rachford said he landed the
airplane as quickly as possible. Only when the plane touched down did the
door-open warning light come on, according to crew reports. An FAA
investigation never found what caused the door to open.
Rachford, who is also chairman of the Emery pilots' unit of
the Air Line Pilots Association labor union, has been pressing the FAA to
scrutinize Emery more closely.
In a September 1998 letter to a FAA safety
manager then in charge of safety inspections for Emery, Rachford
wrote: "I can't say it any clearer: This airline is going to put a hole in
the ground and kill someone."
Asked about the pilots' reports last
September, FAA safety managers said they weren't alarmed.
"I wouldn't call it routine, I wouldn't
call it particularly alarming," said David Gilliom,
Los Angeles-based flight standards manager for FAA's Western Pacific Region. Gilliom's region included the
Gilliom could not be reached for comment Thursday, and a FAA
spokeswoman said the agency would likely not make any additional comment
because of the crash investigation.
On Thursday, Rachford
said Emery pilots have had little to show from their discussions with the FAA.
"We
were given a lot of meetings and a lot of opportunity to talk at a lot of
levels, but there has been zero action," he said. "What's it going to
take, one of these things going into a schoolyard?"
CARGO PLANE CRASHES OUTSIDE
An Emery Worldwide cargo plane crashed into an auto salvage yard Wednesday
night after taking off from a Sacramento-area airport, killing all three crew
members aboard.
The crash of the DC-8 transport service plane created a spectacular series
of explosions as more than 100 cars burst into flames.
The plane took off from the former Mather Air
Force Base at
"Right before the crash, the pilot said the plane had a center of
gravity problem," Padgug said. "This means
there was some kind of imbalance and he was having problems controlling the
aircraft. On a plane like this, you load the cargo so the weight is
distributed. You don't want too much in back or in front. The pilot might have
felt the weight was not evened out."
Capt. Dan Haverty of the American River Fire
Department said the pilot informed departure control that he had a problem with
"unsettled cargo."
The plane was carrying automatic transmission fluid, clothing and small
amounts of "detonating explosives," Haverty
said.
From 100 to 200 cars, some with gasoline in their tanks,
were set ablaze by the crash about one mile east of the airport, Haverty said. Throughout the night, there were small
explosions in the salvage yards near the crash site.
Scattered pockets of flames dotted a five-acre site in an industrial area of
Firefighters on the ground and in helicopters tried to douse the scattered
fires, but smoke was still billowing into the night sky several hours after the
crash. There were no reports of injuries on the ground.
Lee Elrod, who owns a business in
"I saw the pilot try to pull up four times," Elrod said.
"He'd get to about 2,000-3,000 feet and drop again. Finally it was making
a left bank and just dropped to the ground and exploded."
Ernie Killinger was standing nearby when he saw
the plane drop from the sky.
"When it hit there was a huge explosion, and the fuselage came shooting
out of the fireball," Killinger said. "The
pilot looked to me that he was trying to flatten it out and land it in all that
mess. He tried to flatten it out and lay it on its belly."
A number of large air cargo companies use
The crash scene was just off Sunrise Boulevard, a busy thoroughfare during
rush hour traffic.
The
Pilot's deadly alert of shifting cargo;
Returning to airport in Valley before fiery
crash that killed 3
RANCHO CORDOVA,
The pilot of the Emery Worldwide Flight 17
reported that its cargo shifted shortly after takeoff from Mather
Field east of
Those aboard the plane, all believed to be
Emery employees, were dead by the time fire crews arrived, said Capt. Dan Haverty of the American River Fire Department.
One witness said the plane hit the ground
belly first and was surrounded by fire. Firefighters were hampered by intense
flames, which burned for several hours after the crash. Smoke was visible in
the moonlit night several miles away.
"There was no chance of rescue," Haverty said. He said no one on the ground, including a
security guard at the salvage yard, was injured.
The names of the victims were withheld
pending notification of next of kin. The three crew members included the pilot,
the first captain and a flight engineer.
Flight 17 had taken off at
Witnesses said the plane veered to the left
and went nose-down into the salvage yard, Insurance Auto Auctions, setting as
many as 200 cars on fire, many with gas in their tanks, causing several
explosions.
The crash sent a three-capped mushroom cloud
into the air at least 2,500 feet.
The plane was carrying a load of
transmission fluid, clothing and a small packet of detonating devices, which Haverty emphasized had nothing to
do with the crash and fire. A spokesman for the Redwood City-based airline said
the devices were 0.9 grams of fuses used to activate automobile air bags.
Debris cut a swath about 250 yards wide and
a quarter mile long.
Firefighters worked into the night
extinguishing scattered flames. Debris from the plane, including a 15-foot-long
piece of the fuselage and a wheel assembly, was found scattered among the
wrecked cars. Dozens of vehicles were crumpled.
The fire burned for more than two hours. A
huge plume of black smoke blanketed the area. By
The crash site is in an unincorporated area
near open fields and industrial parks just outside of
Motorist Ernie Killinger
of
"I saw the top of the plane. It was
like he was crash-landing," said Killinger.
"When the plane come out of the flames,
I saw the front half of the fuselage come out of the flames, and the cockpit
was straight up, and it just rocked back and forth until it was engulfed by the
flames," Killinger said. "I thought at one
time it would outrun the flames."
FAA investigators, a bomb squad, officials
from the
The plane was a DC-8 71, a four-engine plane
manufactured by McDonnell Douglas, Allen said.
CRASH FOLLOWS PILOT WARNINGS, FAA PROBES
Emery pilots have reported loading problems, equipment failures and
maintenance lapses
Wednesday's fatal crash in
The four-engine freighter jet crashed into an auto salvage yard Wednesday
just over a minute taking off at
The crew was attempting to return to the airport after declaring an
emergency and reporting that the airplane had "an extreme center of
gravity problem," according to the National Transportation Safety Board,
which is investigating the accident. That could mean, among other possible
causes, a shift in load, incorrect cargo weight or mechanical problems, Preston
Hicks of the NTSB said Thursday. Investigators were trying to locate the
plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder in the smoking
wreckage, Hicks said.
The plane, carrying a load of transmission fluid, clothing and a small
packet of detonators for auto air bags, was at 800 feet when it tried to return
for an emergency landing. The airplane, bound for Emery's air freight hub at
An Emery spokesman identified the dead crew as Capt. Kevin Stables, 43, of
It was Emery's first fatal airplane crash. Emery began flying cargo in 1989.
In a prepared statement, Emery called the DC-8 "the backbone of Emery's
air cargo fleet. The company has 38 DC-8s in its fleet and they are a very
reliable aircraft for us."
Investigators have not determined the cause of the crash, but in the past
two years Emery pilots have complained of improper loading as a safety concern
in both internal "flight debrief" reports and in letters to the
Federal Aviation Administration.
Emery pilots and the company are in the process of negotiating the pilots'
first labor contract.
CRASHED PLANE HAD PREVIOUS PROBLEMS The identification number on the plane
that crashed was N8079U. In August 1998, the same plane was forced to return to
Tampa International Airport in Florida after one of its engines flamed out,
according to the pilots' flight debrief report on the incident filed with
Emery.
In a separate incident at Mather Field last May,
the plane's crew became trapped in the cockpit when the cockpit doorknob broke off, according to the flight debrief report on the incident.
The previous crew had written up the doorknob in the maintenance log, but a
mechanic had written "cockpit door ops OK," the report said. The
flight was delayed for three hours while a contract mechanic went to a Home
Depot store for parts, according to the report.
The same airplane had problems with cabin pressure and a deicing system last
May, according to a pilot report by Emery Capt. Mark Luthi.
But on Thursday, Luthi said the DC-8 that crashed
"was one of our better planes."
He said there was "no way to speculate" about what caused the
airplane to crash.
The Dayton Daily News last June reported that the FAA is investigating an
Emery manager's allegations of numerous violations of federal hazardous
materials regulations, including shipping hazardous materials without adequate
documentation, failing to notify pilots of hazardous cargo on board their
aircraft and concealing problems from FAA inspectors.
Emery's Allen Thursday declined to discuss the pilots' safety complaints. In
a prepared statement given the newspaper late last year, Emery said the pilots'
safety concerns "are either old news and have since been reviewed by the
FAA, or are presently under review."
"Overall, our safety record speaks for itself," said Rocco A. Sacci, Emery's director of corporate communications.
"The FAA's looking at us all the time. They're looking at all the airlines
all the time. This is a heavily regulated industry. We are in compliance with
the requirements of the FAA."
PILOTS REPORT PROBLEMS WITH PLANES
In recent years, Emery pilots have filed reports with the company about
overloaded airplanes, engines quitting on takeoff, brakes failing on landing,
loss of hydraulic pressure in flight control systems, and broken navigation
gear.
The reports also include allegations that maintenance crews sometimes kept
airplanes flying by signing off faulty equipment as repaired, or repeatedly
putting off maintenance on items that continued to fail in flight. In at least
two cases, pilots refused to fly an airplane after they discovered that repairs
had not been made.
FAA safety managers said they have investigated many of the pilots' reports,
some of which remain under investigation. The complaints have not resulted in
any enforcement actions by the FAA.
However, FAA safety managers last year said the FAA "is focused"
on Emery's airline operations.
FAA BEGINS MAJOR INSPECTION
Last month, the agency launched its second major inspection of Emery
Worldwide, known as a "regional airline safety inspection," in less
than a year. The second inspection coincides with the transfer of Emery's
airline certificate - and the responsibility for inspecting Emery - from an FAA
district office in
Among the incidents still under investigation is one from
Suspecting the airplane was heavier than their paperwork said, the captain increased the airplane's landing speed when it
arrived in
Had the crew used the weight figures ground loaders provided to calculate
their landing speed, the airplane would have descended too quickly and "we
could have ended up in the approach lights," the captain reported.
An FAA safety manager said the agency verified the heavier weight and is
still investigating the incident.
Another in-flight emergency occurred over
Emery Capt. Thomas G. Rachford reported the
airplane resisted his efforts to raise or lower its nose or turn in either
direction. He also heard a loud roar. Moments later, the
Rachford tried to return to the airport, but the
large cargo door jutted from the plane's side like a second rudder. As it turned, the DC-8 swayed and "made a horrific noise"
as the cargo door slammed against the plane's upper side, according to the
report.
Concerned the door could rip off and smash into the wing or tail, Rachford said he landed the airplane as quickly as
possible. Only when the plane touched down did the door-open warning light come
on, according to crew reports. An FAA investigation never found what caused the
door to open.
Rachford, who is also chairman of the Emery
pilots' unit of the Air Line Pilots Association labor union, has been pressing
the FAA to scrutinize Emery more closely.
In a September 1998 letter to a FAA safety manager then in charge of safety
inspections for Emery, Rachford wrote: "I can't
say it any clearer: This airline is going to put a hole in
the ground and kill someone."
Asked about the pilots' reports last September, FAA safety managers said
they weren't alarmed.
"I wouldn't call it routine, I wouldn't call it particularly
alarming," said David Gilliom, Los Angeles-based flight standards manager for FAA's Western
Pacific Region. Gilliom's region included the
Gilliom could not be reached for comment Thursday,
and a FAA spokeswoman said the agency would likely not make any additional
comment because of the crash investigation.
PILOTS COMPLAIN
OF 'ZERO ACTION'
On Thursday, Rachford said Emery pilots have had
little to show from their discussions with the FAA.
"We were given a lot of meetings and a lot of opportunity to talk at a
lot of levels, but there has been zero action," he said. "What's it
going to take, one of these things going into a schoolyard?"
LA Times
CARGO AIRLINE HAD PROBLEMS LONG BEFORE
CRASH, FAA SAYS;
ACCIDENT: COMPLAINTS OF LOADS INADEQUATELY
SECURED AND SHIFTING DANGEROUSLY IN PLANES PROMPTED INSPECTION, OFFICIAL SAYS.
EMERY WORLDWIDE HAD PROBLEMS WITH
INADEQUATELY SECURED
One of the pilots of Emery's Flight 17 had
reported a "center-of-gravity" problem moments after taking off from Mather Airport, a former Air Force base in suburban
Sacramento. That could mean the plane's cargo shifted dangerously or was
positioned improperly in the fuselage of the long, four-engine jetliner, a
National Transportation Safety Board investigator said.
Center-of-gravity problems can make a plane
difficult--if not impossible--to fly. The FAA official, Terge
Kristiansen, who once had responsibility for checking some of Emery's planes,
said the agency has had misgivings about the way the company strapped down
cargo in some airliners.
"There were some problems with it, we
can't deny that," Kristiansen said. "It's fair to say there were
concerns raised."
Last year, he said, those concerns and pilot
complaints prompted a comprehensive FAA inspection of Emery planes that focused
on "loading issues."
But neither Kristiansen nor an FAA spokesman
in
James Allen, a spokesman for the Redwood
City-based carrier, said that to his knowledge, the company had not experienced
any particular problems with its straps or other cargo-stabilizing equipment.
He said he was unaware of any pilot complaints about the issue, or of any FAA
investigation addressing it last year.
He added, however, that "it wouldn't be
out of the ordinary" for the FAA to inspect the straps and locks and
recommend replacements.
"We move a lot of freight," Allen
said. "There are a lot of containers, a lot of straps. These things are
constantly evaluated."
The former Emery pilot, Steven Weinstein,
said that the carrier had repeated problems with the straps and locks that keep
cargo from shifting.
Weinstein, who flew for the company for two
years before leaving nine months ago to take a job as a sales manager for a
high-tech company in
"Emery knew they were having trouble
with cargo shifts," said Weinstein, who continues to fly with the U.S. Air
Force Reserve. "I, personally, was on over a dozen flights where the FAA
came out, inspected airplanes and made us replace the cargo straps because they
were unsafe."
On other occasions, Weinstein said, flights
were grounded by the FAA until Emery replaced severely frayed netting that
covers cargo and helps hold it in place.
"Emery knew about all this, and they
never had a decisive maintenance program to come after this problem and fix
it," Weinstein said. "They took an ad hoc approach. . . . They're a
cargo airline; that's inexcusable."
Weinstein said cargo is loaded onto planes
on pallets with rollers on the bottom for easy movement during packing. There
are multiple elements to the system that holds most cargo in place. These
include the netting that covers the load and locks on the floor
that secure the pallets in place with nylon straps.
On any flight, the pilot in command is
ultimately responsible for ascertaining that the plane is airworthy. In the
case of Flight 17, that included ensuring that the cargo was secured properly.
Flight 17 took off from Mather
at
Shortly after liftoff, one of the pilots
told air traffic controllers that he was having trouble controlling the DC-8
because of "unsettled cargo."
Weinstein said if the cargo had been loaded
too far back in the plane, or shifted there as the jetliner climbed out after
takeoff, the DC-8 could have stalled--losing the lift that holds it up in the
air.
"The plane becomes tail-heavy and
starts to sink," he said. "And it can't recover."
The jetliner was attempting to return to Mather for an emergency landing when it slammed belly first
into a junked-auto auction yard and burst into flames. Fire quickly engulfed
scores of cars parked in the salvage yard, creating a dramatic scene a few
blocks from a busy thoroughfare that had been crowded with commuters only a few
hours earlier.
Killed in the crash were the plane's
captain, Kevin Stables, 43, of
Emery issued a statement Thursday expressing
sadness over the loss of the three crew members. Allen said it was the first
fatal crash in the company's 50-year history.
Allen called the DC-8 "the
backbone" of Emery's 65-plane fleet, which also includes DC-10s and Boeing
727s. He said there is one flight out of
On Thursday afternoon, Flight 17's two
"black boxes," the flight data recorder and cockpit
voice recorder, were recovered from the seared wreckage and flown to
The accident was similar in some respects to
the crash of another DC-8 in
In that crash, a Fine Air cargo plane
stalled and slammed into the ground moments after takeoff from
The NTSB concluded that loading the cargo
too far aft had unbalanced the plane and caused the crash.
Fine Air and a contractor the airline had
hired to load the plane received primary blame, but the NTSB also faulted the
FAA for "failure to adequately monitor Fine Air's operational control
responsibility for cargo loading and . . . failure to ensure that known
cargo-related deficiencies were corrected by Fine Air."
The
FAMILIES WANT ANSWERS A YEAR AFTER FATAL CRASH
3 died when Emery cargo jet went down
Timothy R. Gaffney,
Kevin Stables, 43, of
The National Transportation Safety Board plans to hold a public hearing on
its findings, a rarity in cargo crash investigations, but it hasn't set a time
or place. Meanwhile, it has released little information since the crash.
Chesbro, 35, an Army major and military pilot at
"It looked like hell on earth," he said.
Emery Flight 17 had just taken off from Mather Field
for a flight to Emery's global air freight hub at
Stables radioed a request to return to the airport and reported
"extreme CG (center of gravity) problems," according to Chesbro, who
said he has listened to a replay of the transmission.
The four-engine jet plowed into the auction yard, erupted in flames, and
triggered other fires as it cut a 600-yard-long swath through cars and trucks
parked in the yard.
The crash also claimed the lives of First Officer George Land, 35, of
Chesbro drove to Stables' upstate
"It didn't look too much better a day or two after the accident. It was
scorched earth," he said.
Last month, Mrs. Stables filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in
Some Emery crew members complained about safety problems with the DC-8s for
years before the crash, according to documents obtained by the Dayton Daily News .
Chesbro wouldn't speculate on the cause of the crash. But he said
information released so far sounds disturbingly similar to the 1997 crash of a
Fine Air DC-8 freighter in
Chesbro said he pressed the safety board to hold a public hearing on the
Emery crash to focus more attention on safety in air cargo, the fastest growing
sector of the airline industry. Only a late departure prevented the Emery jet
from hitting the auction yard while it was still open, with hundreds of people
in it, he said.
Chesbro called his brother-in-law "one of the type
of guys who wanted to fly since the time he could crawl . . . the same kind of
guy you would want flying your family. He was the kind of guy who would not cut
corners, and that is part of this thing to me."
Chesbro said it has been tough not knowing why his brother-in-law died, but
he said he wants a thorough investigation.
"If it means taking extra time to do it right, so be it," he said.
Delivered report casts new light on Emery
By
e-mail address: timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
DAYTON | More than two years after the fatal crash of an Emery Worldwide Airlines cargo jet raised questions about aircraft maintenance, federal investigators have been provided a report alleging Emery continued to ignore serious safety problems with its aircraft.
Among the allegations in the report was one that Emery permitted use of a jet engine its own engineers had ordered to be taken out of service. The engine later blew apart in mid-air, damaging the airplane and forcing an emergency landing.
In the
The day after the maintenance supervisor was fired, McConaughy states, the repair shop resumed servicing Emery's planes.
Emery's parent corporation, Palo Alto, Calif.-based CNF Inc., disbanded its airline in December as part of a corporate restructuring that consolidated Emery and other operations into a new unit, Menlo Worldwide. The airline had been grounded since August, when CNF stopped flying due to pressure from the FAA.
But CNF still owns a fleet of Boeing 727 airliners operated under contract by Wichita, Kan.-based Ryan Airlines, another all-cargo airline. The FAA report said the same shop that worked on Emery's DC-8 engines also overhauled its 727 engines.
CNF Spokesman Jim Allen on Wednesday said the company is not
aware of any investigation other than the ongoing National Transportation
Safety Board investigation of a February 2000 crash near
The crash, which killed all three crewmembers, raised questions of maintenance oversight by both Emery and the FAA after NTSB investigators found indications of improper maintenance on the jet's tail.
NTSB member John Goglia on Wednesday said the board has rescheduled a public hearing on the crash for May 9. He also said the NTSB will hold a separate hearing, probably later in May, to examine the entire air cargo industry.
In taped conversations with Tom Rachford,
a former Emery pilot and an executive with the Air Line Pilots Association, McConaughy said his memo disappeared from an FAA database.
That tape was subsequently given to the FBI, which says it turned it over to an
investigator for the Department of Transportation Inspector General's Office in
"We can't confirm or deny" an investigation, said David Barnes, a Washington, D.C.-based spokesman for the inspector general's office.
The
FAA Spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory said McConaughy's report never disappeared.
"It was never hidden. It just wasn't in the (FAA's computer) system," Cory said.
McConaughy, who was promoted last
year to aviation safety instructor at the
McConaughy said he has had little contact with investigators.
"I've heard enough to know it's being looked into," he said.
As for the disappearance of his report, McConaughy said, "Let's just say, yeah, they found it. They had help."
Rachford said he hopes McConaughy is called to testify at the NTSB hearing into
Emery's
McConaughy said he's "been told it's a possibility" that he will testify at that hearing but, "I haven't seen the subpoena."
The company Emery uses to repair its engines is also authorized to repair engines for any commercial carrier in the nation. The company's Web site describes it as a diversified energy services company with more than 9,000 employees in 30 countries.
The Dayton Daily News is not identifying that company, which declined comment, because it has not been charged with any wrongdoing.
In one instance McConaughy reported, Emery kept using an engine on one of its four-engine DC-8s for six weeks after an employee ordered it removed.
Six weeks later, on
"It is this writer's opinion that this could have resulted in catastrophic loss of the aircraft," McConaughy states.
The investigation into McConaughy's
report is the second Department of Transportation probe of CNF's
air freight operations. A federal grand jury early last year began
investigating possible criminal safety violations in the handling of hazardous
materials shipped through CNF's
In addition, the NTSB is continuing its probe into the crash of Emery Flight 17.
The board was to hold a public hearing on the crash last
August in
Emery complied and signed an agreement with the FAA to go through a lengthy process to resolve safety issues and get its airplanes flying again. The agreement included paying $1 million to settle FAA claims of rule violations.
• Contact Timothy R. Gaffney at 225-2390 or e-mail him at timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
Lawsuit claims Emery ignored parts problems
Jet crash killed three crew members
By Rob Modic
e-mail address: rob_modic@coxohio.com
DAYTON | A wrongful-death lawsuit against Emery Worldwide Airlines and several other companies claims the air freight carrier ignored warnings and that other companies negligently overhauled and supplied parts for an Emery jet that crashed two years ago in California shortly after take-off.
The lawsuit, filed in
The lawsuit also names as defendants Tennessee Technical
Services, of
Willis and Complete Controls contracted with Emery and TTS
to provide parts, including elevator control assemblies, for the four-engine
DC-8 that plunged into an auto auction yard near
Thursday, Emery spokeswoman Nancy Colvert said the company had not seen the lawsuit and declined comment.
She also said the National Transportation and Safety Board investigation is pending and that a final report has not been issued.
Last August, the NTSB released information that said a bolt was missing from an essential part of the control system. The bolt should have connected the pilot's controls to one of the plane's elevator control tabs, which a pilot uses to control a plane's pitch, according to the NTSB report.
Dave Henley, TTS director of special projects, said last August in response to the NTSB report: "We have conducted internal investigations here . . . and we are confident when the aircraft departed TTS, the bolt was installed" and secured. "Our feeling is that the system was gone into after it left TTS."
A woman at Complete Controls, who declined to give her name, said the company knew "nothing about the lawsuit."
Willis could not be located for comment, but a spokeswoman for a company identified in the lawsuit as the newly named corporation said Avioserv San Diego, Inc., had no comment because the case is pending. She also suggested that the lawsuit misidentified the company.
According to the lawsuit, Emery was warned about poor maintenance and misloading problems of its aircraft by written debriefings from its flight crews and by the Emery Worldwide MEC Air Line Pilots Association, Int.
"The Emery MEC had provided defendant Emery’s parent with disturbing safety-related information about EWA’s flight operations. The (Federal Aviation Administration) had found similar problems in 1999 and January 2000," according to the lawsuit.
• Contact Rob Modic at 225-2282 or e-mail him at rob_modic@coxohio.com
[From the
Emery subject of suit seeking layoff damages
Company acted illegally, ex-employees contend
By
e-mail address: wes_hills@coxohio.com
DAYTON | Five former Emery Worldwide Airlines employees have filed a federal lawsuit against the company, charging that it laid off 800 pilots and ground crew in August without giving a required 60-day notice.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Dayton, seeks certification as a class action and charges the "reason for the layoffs was that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) unexpectedly informed EWA it needed to cease flight operations or the FAA would suspend its certificate."
At the time of the layoffs, the lawsuit states, EWA said they "would be temporary and that if the issues with the FAA were resolved, employees could expect to be recalled."
CNF Inc., EWA's parent company, is named as a defendant besides Emery.
"At this time we have not been served with
anything," CNF spokeswoman Nancy Colvert said
from the company’s headquarters in
Emery Worldwide Airlines agreed to ground its fleet in August after the FAA found what it claimed to be more than 100 safety violations in a series of special inspections during 18 months.
Subsequently, the airline agreed to pay a $1 million fine and take a long list of corrective steps aimed at resuming operations.
Pilots had been complaining about safety problems at the airline for years, in some cases writing letters to top company executives and FAA safety managers.
In February 2000, all three crew members on EWA Flight 17
died when a fully-loaded DC-8 crashed shortly after takeoff into an auto
auction yard in
The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash, scheduled a public hearing in August that it said would look at EWA's use of contract maintenance and its oversight by both EWA and the FAA.
The safety board postponed the meeting indefinitely after EWA grounded its fleet. The hearing has not been rescheduled.
The EWA furloughs became permanent in December when CNF rolled three of its companies — Emery Worldwide, Menlo Logistics and Vector SCM — into a single operation, Menlo Worldwide.
The restructuring included the decision not to resume airline operations.
That permanent suspension of its employees, the lawsuit charges, constituted a "plant closing" requiring a 60-day notice.
The Emery pilots' council of the Air Line Pilots Association filed grievances after the grounding, claiming it violated contract language aimed at preventing the company from turning over the pilots' work to contractors.
Emery has contracted with other cargo airlines to carry its freight since the grounding.
Union officials have said the grievances have not been resolved.
The lawsuit seeks 60 days' payment of wages and benefits for the permanently furloughed Emery employees.
•
[From the
Aviation Daily: Maintenance Error Caused Emery Gear-Up Landing, NTSB Says
By Sean Broderick/Aviation Daily
Emery mechanics put the wrong part on a DC-8 and failed to do a required post-maintenance test, causing the plane's next flight to end with a gear-up landing, NTSB concluded.
The April 2001 incident at
The DC-8-71F involved in the
Following the incident, investigators discovered that mechanics installed an incorrect hydraulic restrictor valve in the gear unit, NTSB said. The valve allowed the gear to retract, but not extend. The valve was not marked with a part number, and a tag that mechanics said was attached to the part showed an incorrect number.
Maintenance logs indicated mechanics "ops" tested
the repair before returning the plane to service, but the Emery crew that met
the plane in
NTSB continues to probe the February 2000 accident near
A hearing on the accident slated for last August -- which would have been the first for a cargo airline crash -- was postponed when the carrier grounded its fleet. It has not been rescheduled.
CNF shutters airline unit
Kevin Kemper DBJ Staff Reporter
Emery Worldwide Airlines is no more today, after officials from parent company CNF Inc. opted to scrap the airline and consolidate company operations.
California-based CNF today said it will combine business units Emery Worldwide, Menlo Logistics and Vector SCM into Menlo Worldwide, a single company that will market global logistics, transportation, freight forwarding and supply chain management.
Emery Worldwide Airlines, based in
CNF officials, however, pledge to continue hub operations at
Emery Worlwide Airlines has been grounded since Aug. 13 by the Federal Aviation Administration. Since then, the company has used Wichita, Kan.-based Ryan Aviation and other operators to continue shipping, while approximately 800 pilots, crew members and other administrative personnel were laid off.
By scrapping Emery Worldwide Airlines, CNF is expected to save approximately $100 million per year by eliminating assets and reducing operating costs, said Gregory Quesnel, CNF president and chief executive officer.
He said the company will continue to use Ryan Aviation and other contractors for flight needs.
According to an industry analyst, losing the airline and consolidating the other units was the right thing to do.
"It's definitely a good step in the right
direction," said Tony Cristello, analyst with
BB&T Capital Markets in
During the third quarter, the company reported a $10.4 million loss, or 21 cents per share, and a net loss of $185.8 million, or $3.81 per share, for the first nine months of 2001.
CNF estimates the company incurred $17 million in additional expenses with Emery Worldwide Airline's grounding.
The demise of the airlines division may not have been unexpected, though.
In a letter dated Nov. 5, Emery Worldwide Airlines Chief Executive Officer Jerry Trimarco informed Dayton Mayor Michael Turner that it was taking the company more time than expected to meet Federal Aviation Administration demands that would put its planes back in the air.
The company would be kaput, he said, without a cash infusion.
CNF spokeswoman Nancy Colvert said the capital would have had to come from CNF, a measure the board of directors did not support.
Wall Street reacted positively to the news today, sending CNF stock up nearly 15 percent, or $28.70 per share, in afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Emery Worldwide Airlines grounded for good
The airline was based at
In mid-August, Emery grounded its fleet of 37 cargo-carrying jets and curtailed other operations at the airport under pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA threatened to revoke Emery's operating license for more than 100 alleged safety violations tallied since January 2000.
Emery continued to haul freight using contract carriers. Before the grounding, Emery employed 3,400 people at the airport, including 1,900 full-time workers.
CNF said today it will combine its Menlo Logistics, Emery Worldwide and Vector SCM operations for form Menlo Worldwide. The new company will have annual sales of $3 billion, 15,000 employees and more than 200 service centers and operating centers.
CNF said a reformed Emery will be a division of Menlo Worldwide and will haul freight using a fleet of contract air carriers, as it has done since mid-August.
"By altering the basic business model of Emery in North America, we are taking a major step in CNF's strategy of reducing assets in a way that will benefit both customers and investors," said Gregory L. Quesnel, president and chief executive of CNF.
CNF said it will take an after-tax charge of about $200 million in the fourth quarter for ceasing operations of the airline. Much of charge reflects the "planned disposal of all aircraft, leases and other costs," the company said.
CNF stock (NYSE:CNF) was trading up $3.32 at $28.32 late this morning.
[From the
CNF grounds Emery for good
Freight company will use other cargo carriers, take $200M 4Q charge.
By Staff Writer Chris Isidore
Emery Worldwide grounds cargo jets -
FedEx foes trying to block postal deal -
FedEx, USPS approve deal -
CNN.com - Emery DC-8 cargo plane crashes near
CNF
Menlo Worldwide
The company has not been able to fly its own cargo jets since August, when the Federal Aviation Administration threatened to revoke its operating certificate if it did not voluntarily ground the planes. The FAA cited a continued series of maintenance problems that its officials said appeared to have played a role in a series of crashes, including one fatal crash.
The company has operated Emery since August using aircraft operated under contract by other cargo carriers. It will essentially continue to do the same, merging Emery into a new unit called Menlo Worldwide, which will include Menlo Logistics, a company that handles customers' logistics management, and Vector SCM, which is a joint venture with General Motors Corp. (GM: Research, Estimates) that manages GM's worldwide distribution system.
The company said that Emery CEO Chutta Ratnathicam will return to his former position as Chief Financial Officer of holding company CNF, while Menlo Logistics CEO John Williford will be CEO of the new combined Menlo Worldwide.
At the time of the August grounding, the company said it would work with the FAA to try to get its own planes back in the air. But the latest move is not unexpected. Even before the maintenance problems grounded Emery there was a belief among analysts that the air cargo market had at least one carrier too many operating its own planes, especially with a weaker U.S. economy cutting into demand for air cargo shipments.
"By altering the basic business model of Emery in
Emery also suffered a setback when it lost a contract to carry a large amount of priority mail from the U.S. Postal Service to FedEx Corp., a move it fought unsuccessfully in court.
Most of the charge that the company will take in the fourth quarter is for disposal of aircraft, leases and other costs. About 130 workers at Emery Worldwide will lose their jobs as a result of the move, with 90 workers being laid off by the end of the week, followed by another 40 workers over the next six to nine months, a spokesman told Reuters. The company's air operations still had about 200 employees after about 800 people lost their jobs following the grounding in August.
In addition to Menlo Worldwide, CNF's operations include Con-Way Transportation Services Inc., a series of nonunion regional trucking companies providing near national coverage.
Reuters contributed to this report
Breaking News
Ryan to continue its work for CNF
Wichita-based Ryan International Airlines will continue its contract work for CNF Inc., the parent of Emery Worldwide Airlines, which is now out of business.
Emery Worldwide was scrapped after officials from CNF Inc. decided to consolidate company operations.
California-based CNF said it will combine business units Emery Worldwide, Menlo Logistics and Vector SCM into Menlo Worldwide, a single company that will market global logistics, transportation, freight forwarding and supply chain management.
Ryan is contracted to operate up to 17 Boeing 727s for CNF and will continue that service.
"They (Ryan) are definitely part of the network going into the new year," says Nancy Colvert, spokeswoman for CNF. "By far, they have the largest chunk of planes."
Ryan has had a long relationship with CNF and Colvert expects that relationship to continue "for some time."
Dayton, Ohio-based Emery Worldwide has been grounded since Aug. 13 by the Federal Aviation Administration.
By ending Emery Worldwide, CNF is expected to save approximately $100 million a year by eliminating assets and reducing operating costs, said Gregory Quesnel, CNF president and chief executive officer.
According to an industry analyst, losing the airline and consolidating the other units was the right thing to do.
"It's definitely a good step in the right
direction," said Tony Cristello, analyst with
BB&T Capital Markets in
During the third quarter, the company reported a $10.4 million loss, or 21 cents a share, and a net loss of $185.8 million, or $3.81 a share, for the first nine months of 2001.
CNF estimates the company incurred $17 million in additional expenses with Emery Worldwide's grounding.
The demise of the airlines division may not have been unexpected, though. In a letter dated Nov. 5, Emery Worldwide Airlines CEO Jerry Trimarco informed Dayton Mayor Michael Turner that it was taking the company more time than expected to meet Federal Aviation Administration demands that would put its planes back in the air. The company would be finished, he said, without a cash infusion.
History of Emery
CNF Inc.'s announcement Wednesday is the most recent development in what has been a tumultuous history for Emery Worldwide Inc. operations. One of the area's stalwart employers, Emery's fortunes have swung wildly since a botched acquisition in 1987.
• 1929: Consolidated Freightways Inc. established.
• 1946: Emery Air Freight founded in
• 1981: Emery opened its $85 million North American sorting
center at
• 1987: Emery acquired Purolator Courier in a bid to conquer the small-package market. It was a bad union from the start, and Emery began a five-year slump.
• 1989: Emery Air Freight became Emery Worldwide after being acquired by Consolidated Freightways and merged with CF AirFreight.
• 1990: Emery Worldwide Airlines headquarters moved from
• 1991: Emery missed out on a U.S. Postal Service contract
for overnight and express mail only months after US Air announced it was
pulling out of its
• 1992: Emery won $200 million in contracts from General Motors
Corp. and Chrysler Corp., becoming the primary air-freight carrier for both
companies' manufacturing operations. The contracts strengthened the future of
the
• 1993: Emery Worldwide posted its first annual profit since 1986.
• 1994: Emery announced a $33 million modernization and
expansion plan for its
• 1996: Celebrating its 50th anniversary as an air-freight
company and its 15th anniversary of hub operations in
• 1996: Consolidated Freightways renames itself CNF Inc. and spins off its national long-haul motor carrier unit, bearing the Consolidated Freightways trademark. CNF consists of Emery Worldwide, Con-Way Transportation Services and Menlo Logistics.
• 1997: The Postal Service awards Emery a $1.7 billion contract for Priority Mail delivery, creating 600 jobs. Buoyed by the United Parcel Service strike, Emery had its best year ever.
• 1998: Emery's employment in
• 1999:
• 1999: The Federal Aviation Administration launched an investigation into allegations that Emery shipped hazardous materials without adequate documentation, failed to notify pilots of hazardous cargo on board their aircraft and concealed problems from FAA inspectors.
• 2000: An Emery Worldwide Airlines DC-8 en route to
• 2000: The Postal Service announced a wide-ranging, $7 billion partnership with FedEx Corp. Emery and UPS protest the deal. After a long-standing pricing dispute, Emery and the Postal Service agreed to dissolve their Priority Mail contract in September 2001.
• 2001: In January, Emery's bid in federal court to stop the alliance between FedEx and the Postal Service failed. Emery said it was moving up its exit from the Priority Mail contract to April. In March, the FAA proposed fines totaling $698,000 against Emery Worldwide Airlines for alleged aircraft maintenance and hazardous cargo violations.
• 2001: In July, CNF, citing a $208 million restructuring charge related to Emery, reported a $228 million loss for the second quarter.
• 2001: Responding to a FAA threat, the airline agreed to
ground its fleet of 37 cargo jets in August. Contractors continued to carry
Emery freight on their planes. Losses at Emery Worldwide, now with about 2,000
Emery's fall may hurt plans
Could dampen
By Jim Bebbington and Nancy Bowman
e-mail address: jim_bebbington@coxohio.com
DAYTON | CNF Inc.'s abandonment of Emery Worldwide Airlines will hurt Dayton city coffers and dampen momentum to expand Dayton International Airport.
CNF officials announced Wednesday they are closing their
airline operations but will maintain their sorting hub at
The closing of the airline will result in about 70 mechanics and ground workers losing their jobs this week, but for now the hub will continue to operate, company officials said. It employs 2,000.
It is the latest in a string of cutbacks for Emery's
Blair Conrad,
"That will come back eventually and the same capacity problems that existed a year ago are still going to be there," Blair said. "Interest rates are down and it's a good time to do projects if you can get the revenue streams for it."
But airport expansion critics say Emery's announcement
should make it clear
"As we know from other recent developments, there is no
new information or facts under the sun which will move (
The expansion plan is undergoing an environmental impact study by the FAA, but the original timetable had the study completed by now and the airport buying land. Emery was going to provide $300 million of the first phase's $500 million price tag. The first phase would extend the airport's southern runway, requiring a portion of U.S. 40 in Vandalia to be moved.
Mike Petro of the Stop Airport Noise and Expansion organization said he and other members of the citizens group are concerned about any loss of jobs at Emery and the impact that could have on area families. SANE opposes expansion, but also thinks the FAA will look at the issue from a safety viewpoint and may allow some form of expansion because of safety considerations.
When the expansion proposal was first announced, Emery
projected fast growth for the
The company also projected it would fly more than 6 billion
pounds of freight in and out of the airport in 2001. Emery has instead had
approximately 1 billion pounds of goods flown into
Emery pays the airport per pound brought in, and those revenues have dropped along with Emery's business.
"(Emery) quit flying the postal contract sooner than they thought they were," Conrad said. "Things were on the downswing from that point on."
City officials Wednesday were still trying to gauge the impact of Emery's announcement.
"We've been working since April to try to do anything
we can so they know that
City budget officials are already projecting an overall drop in city revenues for 2001. They had prepared for some cutbacks at Emery.
"We knew there was going to be some change, but we didn't know how much," said Jeff Woodson, the city's Budget Director. "A loss of any jobs is going to have a ripple effect."
Local development officials viewed Emery's announcement with a mixture of relief and dread.
"I guess it's probably hard to call the loss of 110 jobs good news, but given the things they've been facing the last couple months, this is not the worst possible outcome," said Dan Curtis, Vice President of the Miami Valley Economic Development Council.
The Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce had created a local college program to train plane mechanics, largely to work on Emery's fleet.
"We had viewed several years ago cargo as a growth
industry," said State Rep. Jon Husted,
R-Kettering, who works for the chamber. "Whether that occurs in
• Contact Jim Bebbington at (937) 225-2262 or e-mail him at jim_bebbington@coxohio.com. Contact Nancy Bowman at nancy_bowman@coxohio.com or at (937) 335-4357
Restructuring leads to Emery's demise
One of three companies to make up Menlo Worldwide
By Timothy R. Gaffney
e-mail address: timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
The Dayton-based airline’s demise is part of a major corporate restructuring its parent company, Palo Alto, Calif.-based CNF Inc., announced Wednesday.
CNF is rolling three of its companies — Emery Worldwide, Menlo Logistics and Vector SCM — into a single operation named Menlo Worldwide. The restructuring includes the decision not to resume operations by Emery Worldwide’s in-house cargo carrier, grounded since Aug. 13 under pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Emery, which delivers freight to 200 nations, stayed in business by using airplanes flown by Wichita, Kan.-based Ryan Aviation and other contractors.
Wednesday's changes won't impact most of the 2,000 workers
in the Emery freight hub at
Still, about 70 mechanics and ground workers will lose their jobs this week. The move also ends any hope of a return to work for approximately 800 airline employees the company furloughed when it grounded its fleet.
The airline had been working with the FAA to resolve a wide range of safety issues under a settlement agreement aimed at allowing the airline to resume operations. An FAA spokeswoman said the agency has "called off" the team that was working on the agreement.
"There are still safety issues, since our team did not finish its work," FAA spokeswoman Elizabeth Cory said. But the agreement "becomes a moot point" with the airline’s decision not to fly again, she said.
Emery will continue as a Menlo Worldwide division for North American air freight, international freight forwarding, customs brokerage and expedited services. It will continue to contract with other cargo airlines to fly its freight.
Investors liked the changes. CNF stock (NYSE:CNF) finished trading Wednesday at $28.72, up $3.72, or 14.8 percent.
"The market has been waiting for that for a long time. They wanted to get rid of (EWA) big time," said Peter Coleman, an analyst for Bank of America Securities.
Contracting for airlift will be cheaper for Emery than operating its own fleet, another securities analyst said.
CNF said it will take a $200 million after-tax charge in the fourth quarter for not continuing the airline operation, most of it for maintenance and lease termination costs, said Chutta Ratnathicam, Emery Worldwide’s chief executive. But Ratnathicam, who will return to his former position as CNF’s chief financial officer, said it should save more than $100 million per year in reduced costs compared with this year, not counting the duplicate cost of contracting airplanes while still paying for its own grounded fleet.
Mark Luthi, head of Air Line Pilots Association’s Council 110, the union local representing Emery’s furloughed pilots, disputed the cost-saving claim.
"You can’t support multiple (airlines) cheaper than you can support one," he said.
Eliminating EWA is the latest step in CNF’s costly struggle to restructure Emery Worldwide over the last year in the face of a slowing economy, loss of business to ground transportation services and loss of the Express Mail and Priority Mail contracts with the U.S. Postal service.
CNF took a $340.5 million restructuring charge in the second quarter this year to downsize Emery’s fleet of leased cargo jets. And it cost Emery $17 million in duplicate costs in the third quarter to contract for airlift after its fleet was grounded in the last half of the quarter. CNF hasn’t said what it expects duplicate costs to reach this quarter.
Making Emery profitable again remains a challenge for CNF. Besides cutting costs, "It’s going to take some amount of growth" — 10 to 15 percent — to reach the break-even point, Ratnathicam said. But even if the economy doesn’t rebound, the restructured company is positioned to grow by gaining market share, he said.
The
But he acknowledged that growth for Emery doesn’t
necessarily mean growth at the hub. Emery has regional trucking and
international operations that could grow without affecting the
Trimarco said Emery is looking for other business for the hub, which was built to handle much more capacity than it can fill now with its own operations. He said the company is scouting for regional trucking or air cargo companies that can use the hub’s capabilities for rapidly sorting large and small packages. Emery’s specialty is heavyweight freight.
The aftershocks of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks complicate Emery's efforts. The steep decline in air travel has prompted airlines to cut capacity, making it a bad time for Emery to try to return or sublease its planes.
Emery also faces the uncertainties of an open crash
investigation. Overwhelmed by the crashes of four hijacked airliners on Sept.
11, the National Transportation Safety Board hasn't rescheduled a public
hearing it had planned for the
• Contact Timothy R. Gaffney at 225-2390 or e-mail him at timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
Pilots vow to fight decision to shut down Emery
By Timothy R. Gaffney
e-mail address: timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
The union representing furloughed Emery Worldwide Airline pilots will fight CNF Inc.'s decision to shut down the airline permanently, a union official said Wednesday.
The Emery pilots' council of the Air Line Pilots Association filed grievances claiming contract violations in August after Emery temporarily grounded its fleet of cargo jets and furloughed about 800 airline employees. The furlough included about 400 pilots.
Jerry Trimarco, chief executive officer of the airline, said CNF's decision made the furloughs permanent.
The union plans to file additional grievances in response to CNF's announcement Wednesday that it was restructuring several of its companies and discontinuing the airline operation, said Mark Luthi, chairman of the Emery pilots' council and a furloughed EWA captain.
"We're going after them for the full value in our contract," Luthi said. He called the decision to shut down the airline a "willful abrogation of the contract."
The union's grievances contend the company violated its labor contract because it could have prevented the safety issues that caused its fleet to be grounded.
EWA grounded its fleet under pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The FAA claimed several investigations turned up more than 100 safety violations.
The investigations stemmed in part from years of safety complaints by pilots.
The company has since contracted with other airlines to move its air freight.
EWA "didn't like that we kept raising safety issues which they ignored to the point of a crash," Luthi said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the February 2000 crash of an EWA DC-8 that kille