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 killed all three crewmembers.
Although it has not reported a probable cause, NTSB officials have said the investigation raised questions about maintenance oversight by both the airline and the FAA.
Trimarco said he anticipates additional actions by the union. "We'll react to them when we see them," he said.
Meanwhile, the furloughed workers face bleak prospects in a job market flooded by massive layoffs from other airlines in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"There's so many qualified airline pilots out there. The estimate now is 10,000. Getting jobs (with airlines) is almost impossible," Luthi said.
• Contact Timothy R. Gaffney at 225-2390 or e-mail him at timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
Letters to the Editor
Emery Worldwide Airlines and the Airline Pilots Association negotiated and signed a four-year labor contract. Less than one year later, the pilots were terminated in direct violation of that contract.
Emery contracted with other freight airlines to move Emery freight, which was specifically addressed and prohibited. Then, totally contrary to statements Emery made to employees, the public, the media, a federal arbitrator, the Federal Aviation Administration, etc., Emery permanently shut down flight operations.
Emery blames the pilots for reporting Emery's unsafe maintenance practices to the FAA. When we reported problems to Emery, we were ignored, harassed and threatened with termination. The FAA found more than 100 violations of federal air regulations. Our FAA licenses require us to report anything unsafe to the crews that fly and the public the airplanes fly over.
On
Emery's attitude is it is "big business"; it may set or revise any rules previously agreed upon and blatantly ignore labor contracts.
If a signed, legal contract can be ignored so easily, there is no point to signing a contract. Can the bank now say the interest rate on my home loan is 30 percent?
CNF/Emery is profiting by changing the rules less than one year into a four-year contract. It abrogated our legally binding union labor contract and locked us out.
Geno Gagne Bradford
FAA Fine of $1 Million Against Emery
Sets Stage for Carrier to Resume Flying
By Andy Pasztor
Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Five weeks after government regulators forced Emery Worldwide Airlines to suspend operations for what they described as egregious maintenance deficiencies, the Federal Aviation Administration has settled for a $1 million civil fine as part of a plan to help the cargo carrier quickly resume flying.
A six-page agreement between the FAA and the country's fourth-largest air-cargo hauler, a unit of CNF Inc., Palo Alto, Calif., sets the stage for Emery's aircraft to return to the air by early next year once the carrier revamps its maintenance organization, inspections, record-keeping and training programs. The 31-point plan, calling for an FAA team to assist Emery on "an expedited basis," requires the carrier to implement procedural and operational safeguards similar to those usually required of airlines before they first launch service.
Under the settlement agreement, the company didn't acknowledge any violations, and the FAA said it wanted to avoid "the burden and expense of possible future protracted litigation." FAA officials agreed to hold off formal enforcement actions against the company, despite finding what they previously described as more than 100 maintenance lapses, including widespread instances of "ineffective or inappropriate repairs" along with failures to fix repetitive pilot write-ups of the same problem on the same aircraft.
The cargo airline has six months to make the improvements, though it isn't slated to pay the final installment of the fine until March 2003. If the FAA determines after eight months that Emery hasn't made the necessary changes, it will be free to institute formal enforcement actions.
It isn't clear what it will cost Emery to carry out the changes, and some company officials recently have told local pilot-union representatives that the carrier eventually may opt to close down. The language of the agreement signed last week, however, says that Emery "desires to resume commercial" operations "at the earliest possible date consistent" with the latest safety and maintenance guidelines. A federal arbitrator is considering claims by Emery's pilots that they were illegally furloughed. The pilots claim they should continue to be paid because the airline failed to heed advance warnings of potential FAA moves to shut it down.
Emery wouldn't comment on whether it plans to resume flying, or instead to continue relying on subcontractors it turned to when it grounded its fleet last month.
The FAA has imposed larger fines in the past stemming from other high-profile investigations. In 1998, the agency fined the America West Airlines unit of America West Holdings Corp. $5 million for maintenance and operational lapses, but forgave half the amount after the airline took steps toward improvement. Late last year, the agency proposed nearly $1 million in fines against Alaska Airlines, a unit of Alaska Air Group Inc., for maintenance violations found during an audit of the airline's operations.
The agreement doesn't affect a continuing criminal probe of
Emery's cargo-handling procedures. A federal grand jury in
-- Rick Brooks contributed to this article.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
Emery workers picket to gain attention
Deadline nearing for airlines to resolve safety issues
By Timothy R. Gaffney
e-mail address: timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
With a deadline nearing for grounded Emery Worldwide
Airlines to resolve safety issues with federal regulators, furloughed Emery
pilots picketed in downtown
Dressed in their flight uniforms, about a dozen pilots
conducted informational picketing between
Emery grounded its cargo jets Aug. 13 under pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration, which accuses the airline of more than 100 safety violations. About 800 airline pilots and other workers were furloughed. Emery has contracted other cargo carriers to move its freight while it negotiates a settlement with the FAA.
The Air Line Pilots Association, the union representing Emery pilots, has filed several grievances against the company, claiming the furlough and its use of contract carriers violate their labor contract.
Mark Luthi, chairman of ALPA's Emery unit, claimed Emery allowed safety issues to ground its fleet instead of working with the pilots to resolve problems.
Some pilots have complained for years about alleged safety problems at the airline, including letters to FAA safety managers and executives at Emery and its parent company, Palo Alto, Calif.-based CNF Inc.
''The only way to be safe is to have accountability. Emery Worldwide has
shed itself of its airline in order to shed its obligations under our
agreement and to avoid its accountability and safety responsibility," Luthi said.
CNF spokeswoman Nancy Colvert read a one-sentence company response that said it and the pilots "are in talks to resolve the dispute, and the company will limit its discussions of the issue to a proper labor relations forum."
Tuesday will mark an FAA-imposed deadline for Emery to resolve safety issues the agency identified before it can start flying its planes again. Under an "interim settlement agreement" Emery signed last month, the FAA said it will "initiate appropriate enforcement" against the airline if an agreement isn't signed by the deadline.
The FAA has not said what action it would take, but it previously said it would seek nearly $700,000 in civil penalties against the airline.
FAA and Emery representatives said they haven't reached a settlement yet.
"We're working with the FAA to determine what it's going to take" to restart the airline, Colvert said.
Meanwhile, Colvert said, "We don't have a lot of answers" for furloughed employees who have been asking when they will go back to work.
• Contact Timothy R. Gaffney at 225-2390 or e-mail timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
[From the
Emery Worldwide Airlines Pilots to Conduct Informational Picketing Over
Company's Abrogation of Union Contracts and Lack of Safety Accountability
WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Uniformed pilots of Emery Worldwide
Airlines will conduct informational picketing at the company's headquarters
in
6, 2001, to voice their concern over their management's abrogation of their
union contract and its lack of safety accountability.
"The management of parent companies CNF and Emery Worldwide as well as at
Emery Worldwide Airlines have completely deserted the families of nearly 500
dedicated Emery crewmembers by abrogating our union agreement -- an agreement
in which management explicitly promised the Emery crewmembers to run a safe
and growing airline and provide a real airline career, said Capt. Mark Luthi,
chairman of the Emery unit of the Air Line Pilots Association. "Management
has also jeopardized the lives of its employees and the general public by
their unwillingness to operate airplanes safely," said Luthi. "The only way
to be safe is to have accountability. Emery Worldwide has shed itself of its
airline in order to shed its obligations under our agreement and to avoid its
accountability and safety responsibility."
Luthi added "The FAA has characterized the company as unwilling to maintain
its aircraft safely." He noted that the FAA has run four special inspections
of the airline since January 2000, which uncovered over 100 violations
resulting in nearly $700,000 in fines. Prior to ceasing operations, the FAA
had Emery under a heightened state of oversight for safety and maintenance
violations.
The airline shut its doors on
freight movement work to other carriers. As a result of the shutdown over
800 employees, including nearly 500 pilots, were laid off their jobs without
notice and without any pay. "Management has attempted to put a good face on
this situation but so far the only solution they have come up with is to
violate union contracts and to relegate the safe operations of freight-
carrying airplanes to the lowest bidder," Luthi said. "Emery is unwilling to
address the safety issue themselves. Safety has a price and it is a price
management is unwilling to pay," he added.
ALPA is the union representing most commercial airline pilots in North
pilots at 47 carriers in the
http://www.alpa.org .
EVENT: Emery Worldwide Pilots' Informational Picketing
Transportation Safety Board Will Step Up
Its Scrutiny of Aircraft-Maintenance Shops
By Rick Brooks and Andy Pasztor
Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal
The National Transportation Safety Board is intensifying its scrutiny of aviation-maintenance contractors, including the facility that overhauled an Emery Worldwide Airlines Inc. cargo plane that crashed last year after a critical tail-bolt apparently fell off the aircraft.
Agency investigators are expected to take statements
Thursday from the president and quality-control chief at Tennessee Technical
Services LLC, an aircraft-repair operation in
Elevator-control parts also were installed incorrectly in at
least 11 other DC-8s in Emery's fleet, an inspection requested by the NTSB
found earlier this year. It isn't clear who installed those parts. Emery's
entire 37-plane fleet will stay grounded until the airline, a subsidiary of CNF
Inc., of
The close attention to the
Investigators suspect the Emery crash near
Dave Henley, director of special projects at Tennessee Technical Services, said the company is "providing whatever information and making people available as the NTSB requires." The company's probe concluded that the crucial bolt was installed and secured correctly, he added.
Emery declined to comment on maintenance of the 31-year-old
plane. But about a week after the aircraft left the
In addition to the
Write to Rick Brooks at rick.brooks@wsj.com and Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
Emery Getting Grounded
Air freight officials say last month's abrupt grounding of
Emery Worldwide Airlines, the
The industry-wide scrutiny was pushed by a Cargo Strategic Planning Group that was formed within the FAA's Flight Standards Office after a series of incidents involving cargo airlines prompted some to complain that safety inspectors were not giving the attention to all-cargo operators that they were giving to passenger airlines.
Emery's Dayton, Ohio-based air unit grounded its fleet of
some 38 aircraft August 13 after the Federal Aviation Administration threatened
to ground the airline and take away its air operating certificate. The action
came after a close investigation of Emery's flight safety and maintenance
program following the crash of an Emery DC-8 freighter outside
Since then, the airline's pilots have complained of numerous safety lapses that they claim were largely ignored by the company and the National Transportation Safety Board has prepared its own lengthy analysis of the airline's procedures. The FAA acted in August, said Ava Mims, the FAA's deputy director of Flight Standards Service, after "we found both an inability and an unwillingness to take sustained corrective action."
Emery says it was stunned at what it called a precipitous FAA move and company officials were angered by Mims' comments.
"This is an unnecessary and unwarranted action," said Jim Allen, a spokesman for CNF, Emery's parent company. "I'm not saying we don't have deficiencies at our airline and they are not serious. But we were working diligently to resolve the problems and we were making progress."
Emery, which laid off about 400 pilots and 400 support workers after the shutdown, was hoping to have an agreed safety plan to resume its air operations in place by early to mid-September. The company says it has suffered no disruption of service and detected no loss of customers as it manages a patchwork network of air carriers, including Ryan International Airlines, Gemini Air Cargo, Express One and Express.Net. Once a settlement with the FAA is in place, Emery will evaluate whether it makes financial sense to resume flying airplanes or outsource that part of the business for good.
"What we have to do now is meet with the FAA, agree on the actions that need to be taken to get the airline back up. Then we will figure out what that will cost," said Allen. "Right now, we don't know what we are going to do, but our expectation is that we are going to resume flying. Now, if we have to replace 64 DC-8 engines … ."
Emery, a $2.4 billion unit of CNF Inc., recently reported a $25.2 million operating loss in the second quarter as its air freight revenue in its core North American operations fell 24 percent.
Even grounded, Emery hits turbulence
Pilot/union chief details incidents, dispute furloughs
By Timothy R. Gaffney
e-mail address: timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
DAYTON | When Emery Worldwide Airlines Capt. Mark Luthi stepped onto the airline's sprawling parking apron at Dayton International Airport on Aug. 7, he said he found it "raining" under the DC-8 he was assigned to fly to Seattle.
It was raining jet fuel.
"It had six fuel leaks," he recalled Wednesday. "The radar didn't work, either."
Assigned another airplane, Luthi
said he took off from
It was the second night in a row he had had to turn back to
Besides his own incidents, he said, an Emery DC-10 widebody jet on Aug. 7 experienced an engine
"flameout" when a fuel tank ran dry on a flight from
Luthi, who is also chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association's union local representing Emery pilots, said the spate of incidents baffled him because it came while two federal agencies had Emery's maintenance practices under a microscope.
The Federal Aviation Administration had run four special inspections of the Dayton-based cargo carrier since January 2000, and in March it had proposed civil penalties of $698,000 for a variety of alleged violations, some involving maintenance.
And the National Transportation Safety Board, which has been investigating a fatal Emery cargo jet crash, was preparing to scrutinize Emery's contract maintenance and oversight by both Emery and the FAA in a public hearing this week.
"They knew they were under the gun, and yet they let these things happen," Luthi said.
On Aug. 10, FAA safety managers summoned Emery executives to
a meeting the next day in
The FAA's inspections had found problems with Emery's maintenance, training, and operations. On Wednesday, an FAA spokeswoman said the FAA's "remaining concern" about Emery was its maintenance.
While some observers have wondered if the FAA just wanted to look tough in advance of the now-postponed NTSB hearing, Luthi speculated the rash of incidents might have spurred the agency to act.
"They were making advances in maintenance, and all of a sudden they backpedaled," he said.
Both the FAA and Emery say the sudden grounding is the result of what inspectors found during the past 18 months, not because of any new findings, although Nancy Colvert, a spokeswoman for Emery parent CNF Inc., said the company had been working "almost daily" with the FAA to resolve safety issues. She said the demand to stop flying came "out of the blue."
It isn't clear just what transpired in the weekend meeting. But what's even less clear is when Emery will get its jets back into the blue.
GROUNDING LIKELY TO LAST MONTHS
Emery's voluntary flight suspension is likely to last well beyond 30 days. Saying it "may take several months" before Emery starts flying again, the NTSB indefinitely postponed this week's hearing about the February 2000 crash of Emery Flight 17, which killed all three crewmembers when it went down shortly after takeoff from Sacramento, Calif.
The board said Emery needs time to focus on the issues raised by the flight suspension, and it wants to see how the actions taken by Emery and the FAA affect the issues it planned to raise at the hearing.
Meanwhile, Emery has furloughed most of its airline employees, but Colvert said it has kept on a "core group" focused on crafting a plan to resume flight operations in a way that will satisfy the FAA's safety concerns.
The pilots' union takes a more cynical view. Luthi said the grounding might give Emery a convenient way to abandon its airline operations despite provisions in its labor agreement that set conditions on the company's ability to furlough pilots.
"They got rid of their accountability," he said.
Colvert said it's "absolutely untrue" that Emery has decided not to restart the airline. But CNF, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based freight company, was already concerned about Emery's money-losing overnight freight operation before last week's grounding.
CNF says guaranteed next-day delivery of heavy air freight is Emery Worldwide's core product. But its airline operations are also the biggest cost component of its North American network, according to CNF financial filings. The soft economy meant business went down while the fixed costs of the airline operations remained high.
FLEET REDUCED THIS YEAR
Emery sharply downsized its fleet this year, reducing airlift capacity by 30 percent from the year before and 45 percent from its peak period about two years earlier.
But it caused the bulk of a $430.5 million restructuring charge in the second quarter that resulted in an operating loss for Emery Worldwide of $370.4 million for the quarter and $377 million for the first half, according to an Aug. 9 filing by CNF with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In June, CNF officials said they had stemmed the flow of red ink from Emery's overall operations, but they expected its overnight business would continue to lose money until the economy improves.
Even then, they foresee no return to the 1990s’ surging growth in air freight that built Emery into Dayton International's biggest employer. Emery Worldwide Chief Executive Officer Chutta Ratnathicam said his company would focus on the more profitable second-day and deferred-delivery market, which moves more freight by truck.
"When you break down Emery today, only about one-third of its business actually requires aircraft to service," he said in June.
CONTRACT CARRIERS CARRY ON
The FAA's actions against Emery's airline didn't affect its hub, and Emery executives quickly contracted for overnight lift from Ryan International Airlines, a longtime Emery contractor, and seven other cargo air carriers, Colvert said.
"The timing was good because the market for contract airlift is soft right now, due to the economy and because August is generally a slow month, so we were able to line up all the planes we needed quickly," she said.
Indeed, Emery’s executives boasted that the company’s North American network moved more freight in the first days after the grounding than its daily average for July.
But neither CNF nor Emery executives have said what kind of financial impact the grounding and the increase in contract airlift is likely to have on the company. Colvert said Emery Worldwide and Emery airline executives couldn't take questions last week.
PLANE PROBLEMS NOT ONLY WORRY
And both Emery and CNF face more problems:
ALPA has filed grievances aimed at grinding Emery's system to a halt. It contends Emery's furloughing of its pilots and its use of contract airlift in place of its own violate their labor agreement. CNF believes the grievances aren't valid, Colvert said.
A federal grand jury is considering possible criminal
charges against Emery concerning its handling of hazardous-materials cargo
shipments. Criminal charges are rare in the airline industry, but they happen:
Last year, Miami, Fla.-based Fine Air Services Corp. and cargo handler Aeromar Airlines agreed to pay $5 million in criminal fines
in connection with a 1997 Fine Air crash that killed five people near
The families of the three crewmembers killed in the Emery plane crash have filed wrongful death lawsuits against Emery Worldwide, the airline and CNF.
The U.S. Postal Service plans to terminate its Express Mail
contract with Emery on Aug. 26. Ryan International flies the Express Mail
freight under subcontract to Emery with Emery-owned airplanes. Based in
Contact Timothy R. Gaffney at 225-2390 or e-mail him at timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
Emery’s safety issues built up for years before its grounding
By Andy Pasztor and Rick Brooks
THE
Aug. 24 — When the federal government 13 days ago forced Emery Worldwide Airlines Inc. to suspend all its flights, Federal Aviation Administration officials portrayed themselves as tough safety cops cracking down on a renegade cargo carrier.
BUT FAA INSPECTION REPORTS, data assembled by crash investigators and interviews with Emery flight crews suggest a different story: The FAA waited for years to take decisive enforcement action in spite of serious and chronic safety lapses at the freight hauler.
Despite six FAA inspections in the past two years, a stream of safety incidents and complaints from pilots dating from 1996, the FAA didn’t take any definitive action until Aug. 11. That was 11 days before the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates crashes but isn’t a regulator, was set to go public with potentially embarrassing documents and allegations.
In one document, Mark McConaughy, the FAA’s No. 2 operations inspector for Emery, told the NTSB the carrier had such inaccurate maintenance records that "you need to write ‘once upon a time’ across the page because it’s a fairy tale."
CARGO QUESTIONS
Besides detailing a history of problems at Emery, the documents raise broader questions about air-cargo oversight by the agency, which licenses aircraft and airlines. The air-cargo business has grown much faster than passenger traffic in recent years because of crumbling trade barriers and surging demand for just-in-time delivery. Concern is rising among pilot-union leaders and some at the NTSB that the FAA gives cargo regulation lower priority, assigning it fewer and sometimes less-experienced inspectors. Jim Hall, a former NTSB head, says, "It’s just human nature that there has been more attention paid to passengers rather than cargo."
Jim McKenna, who runs an industry-funded foundation called the Aviation Safety Alliance, says that to cut the overall accident rate, "everyone has to take a good hard look at what is causing cargo accidents." The NTSB has studied 14 crashes of cargo jets since the mid-1980s and is looking at the Emery case partly to assess the FAA’s cargo-carrier regulation.
The FAA strongly denies it has a two-tier system. The agency says that it assembles inspection teams based on the size and the needs of carriers.
In any case, cargo flights have proportionately more emergency landings and other dangerous incidents than passenger flights. Emery has had its share. Among them:
In July 1998, an Emery DC-8 lost part of its landing gear
after touching down hard at Seattle-Tacoma airport. Though nobody was hurt, the
mishap hurled a 300-pound wheel into a truck and blasted debris into the terminal.
Improper tire installation, a worn nut and inadequate landing procedures
contributed to the accident, according to the NTSB and the FAA.Seven
months later at Emery’s hub in Dayton, Ohio, 16 of its aging DC-8s took off on
a cold February day with "frost adhering to the wings," without
having undergone mandatory de-icing, according to a report of an FAA inspector
who was there. Later, as a result of his report, Emery revised procedures to
better alert pilots to icing hazards.A year later, an
Emery DC-8 carrying 31 tons of clothes, auto parts and other cargo crashed
after takeoff from Mather Field near
CNF Inc. (CNF)
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FAA Administrator Jane Garvey defends the timing of the decision to ground Emery, saying the agency just got enough evidence to do so. But once all the information was in, she says, it was "an easy decision" because the "evidence was so strong." When it acted, the agency cited "systemic problems" and more than 100 alleged safety violations at Emery.
Other FAA officials say that through stepped-up surveillance
and repeat inspections, they did what was needed prior to the grounding to
ensure safety as they allowed Emery to fly its jumbo DC-10s and 1970s-vintage
DC-8s into busy airports. Agency officials worked hard to help Emery identify
and correct problems after the
"The only reason Emery was safe was because we were looking over its shoulder," she says, adding that finally this month, the agency decided it "couldn’t act as the quality control any longer."
Emery declines to respond to questions about specific lapses
or what it thinks caused the
Emery is a unit of CNF Inc. of
A HUGE CHALLENGE
For the FAA, rapid growth in the air-cargo business poses a huge challenge. Cargo carriers typically fly older planes sold off by passenger airlines. Because of looser federal rules than those for passenger carriers, cargo pilots work longer hours in planes that usually have less safety equipment. Unlike pilots of passenger jets, for instance, they don’t have guaranteed minimum rest times during certain periods, nor are their planes required to have emergency slides, devices to warn of impending midair collisions or the latest fire detection and suppression systems.
Besides detailing a history of problems at Emery, the documents raise broader questions about air-cargo oversight by the agency, which licenses aircraft and airlines.
Giant cargo carriers such as FedEx Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc., with fleets 15 times the size of Emery’s, run rigorous maintenance programs equal to those of passenger lines. But many cargo carriers are so small or geographically dispersed that they rely on subcontractors for much of their maintenance and loading. That makes the FAA’s policing job harder.
"There is clearly a bottom-feeding mentality" among smaller cargo carriers, says Duane Woerth, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, who contends the FAA "waited too long" to crack down on Emery. Some cargo lines have "the most minimal standards," he says, because "they’re not getting enough attention from regulators."
In one of the deadliest safety lapses, Fine Air of Miami and
an affiliated cargo loader agreed last year to pay a total of $5 million in
fines after a 1997 crash that killed five, including the driver of a car struck
by the plane on a major road near
In April 2000, the crew of a Ryan International Airlines
Inc. cargo jet struggled with smoke in the cockpit and faulty flight controls,
resulting from a suspected maintenance mistake, before returning to
Among the smaller carriers, Emery has had the most
comprehensively documented safety issues. Throughout the 1990s, the FAA
inspectors who oversaw Emery were based in
The head of FAA inspections for the
The interview with Mr. McConaughy, a former regional airline captain who continues to help oversee Emery for the FAA and was slated to be a witness at the now-postponed hearing, is one of many documents compiled by the NTSB that are critical of Emery’s maintenance and other operations. The crash-investigation agency released the full file Thursday.
PILOT
Started in 1946, Emery moves cargo for customers such as General Motors Corp. and the U.S. Postal Service. It has had a tough time making money. A foray into the small-package and letter business failed, while in recent years faster deliveries by truckers cut into its business. For the first half of 2001, Emery had an operating loss of $36.5 million. Parent CNF had a $210.3 million net loss for the half, hurt by a major restructuring of the airline’s fleet.
Pilot-union leaders concerned about safety at Emery started gathering complaints in earnest in the spring of 1999. The material eventually ran to 1,600 pages of pilot reports, messages and backup documents. The file featured allegations of excessive maintenance deferrals and a "mom and pop" mentality that resulted in "broken aircraft, unseasoned mechanics, exhausted crews and constant delays," according to a summary addressed to the FAA and Department of Transportation in September 1999.
Some people who received the files at first viewed them as a
byproduct of a pilot-management tug of war over pay and working conditions, but
since then the FAA has verified the pilots’ basic complaints. In December 1999,
the litany of safety allegations helped persuade the FAA to make its
Lawrence Vonderschmidt, who took
over as the FAA’s main operations inspector at Emery, told the NTSB he had no contact
with his predecessor in
FATAL FLIGHT
On
The FAA says that as a result of the crash, it accelerated
an in-depth review of Emery that it had planned previously. Then, on
Around the same time, a different Emery plane blew all eight
main tires during a test of its antiskid braking system, Mr. McConaughy told the NTSB. Maintenance managers at
For the next several months, the FAA documented problems at
Emery. In October 2000, inspectors found repaired parts, scrap parts and
unidentified objects mingled at its
Additional inspector findings that concerned the FAA cited Emery for placing its DC-10 fleet into service without required maintenance plans and pressuring pilots to fly planes with chronic autopilot, navigation and pressurization glitches.
The FAA lowered the boom on Emery after personnel changes at the agency. In April 2001, Nick Lacey, director of the agency’s national flight-standards office and the official who had been in charge of the inspections, left his position for unrelated reasons. Succeeding him was Nick Sabatini, who had been the head of flight standards for the Eastern region. Almost immediately, Mr. Sabatini started pushing for a tougher line on Emery, according to FAA and pilots-union officials. "He has a cop’s disposition," says an industry accident investigator who has worked with him.
‘SERIOUS’ FINDINGS
Reviewing the results of the latest round of inspections, which focused on maintenance and were done in May and June, Mr. Sabatini helped persuade the FAA’s lawyers that there was strong enough legal basis to act. Inspectors found a worrisome pattern of "ineffective or inappropriate repairs," allowing planes to continue in service without fixing the same nagging problems.
David Hanley, FAA manager of flight standards for the
An FAA spokeswoman says that while Mr. Sabatini "was very supportive of the whole process," the agency already was moving in this direction before his promotion. The agency says neither he nor Mr. Lacey, who is leaving the FAA for a private-sector job early next month, is available for comment.
On Friday, Aug. 10, the FAA summoned Emery executives to an
unusual Saturday-morning meeting in
Copyright © 2001 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
Even grounded, Emery hits turbulence
Pilot/union chief details incidents, dispute furloughs
By Timothy R. Gaffney Dayton Daily News
It was raining jet fuel.
"It had six fuel leaks," he recalled Wednesday. "The radar didn't work, either."
Assigned another airplane, Luthi
said he took off from
It was the second night in a row he had had to turn back to
Besides his own incidents, he said, an Emery DC-10 widebody jet on Aug. 7 experienced an engine
"flameout" when a fuel tank ran dry on a flight from
Luthi, who is also chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association's union local representing Emery pilots, said the spate of incidents baffled him because it came while two federal agencies had Emery's maintenance practices under a microscope.
The Federal Aviation Administration had run four special inspections of the Dayton-based cargo carrier since January 2000, and in March it had proposed civil penalties of $698,000 for a variety of alleged violations, some involving maintenance.
And the National Transportation Safety Board, which has been investigating a fatal Emery cargo jet crash, was preparing to scrutinize Emery's contract maintenance and oversight by both Emery and the FAA in a public hearing this week.
"They knew they were under the gun, and yet they let these things happen," Luthi said.
On Aug. 10, FAA safety managers summoned Emery executives to
a meeting the next day in
The FAA's inspections had found problems with Emery's maintenance, training, and operations. On Wednesday, an FAA spokeswoman said the FAA's "remaining concern" about Emery was its maintenance.
While some observers have wondered if the FAA just wanted to look tough in advance of the now-postponed NTSB hearing, Luthi speculated the rash of incidents might have spurred the agency to act.
"They were making advances in maintenance, and all of a sudden they backpedaled," he said.
Both the FAA and Emery say the sudden grounding is the result of what inspectors found during the past 18 months, not because of any new findings, although Nancy Colvert, a spokeswoman for Emery parent CNF Inc., said the company had been working "almost daily" with the FAA to resolve safety issues. She said the demand to stop flying came "out of the blue."
It isn't clear just what transpired in the weekend meeting. But what's even less clear is when Emery will get its jets back into the blue.
Emery's voluntary flight suspension is likely to last well beyond 30 days. Saying it "may take several months" before Emery starts flying again, the NTSB indefinitely postponed this week's hearing about the February 2000 crash of Emery Flight 17, which killed all three crewmembers when it went down shortly after takeoff from Sacramento, Calif.
The board said Emery needs time to focus on the issues raised by the flight suspension, and it wants to see how the actions taken by Emery and the FAA affect the issues it planned to raise at the hearing.
Meanwhile, Emery has furloughed most of its airline employees, but Colvert said it has kept on a "core group" focused on crafting a plan to resume flight operations in a way that will satisfy the FAA's safety concerns.
The pilots' union takes a more cynical view. Luthi said the grounding might give Emery a convenient way to abandon its airline operations despite provisions in its labor agreement that set conditions on the company's ability to furlough pilots.
"They got rid of their accountability," he said.
Colvert said it's "absolutely untrue" that Emery has decided not to restart the airline. But CNF, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based freight company, was already concerned about Emery's money-losing overnight freight operation before last week's grounding.
CNF says guaranteed next-day delivery of heavy air freight is Emery Worldwide's core product. But its airline operations are also the biggest cost component of its North American network, according to CNF financial filings. The soft economy meant business went down while the fixed costs of the airline operations remained high.
Emery sharply downsized its fleet this year, reducing airlift capacity by 30 percent from the year before and 45 percent from its peak period about two years earlier.
But it caused the bulk of a $430.5 million restructuring charge in the second quarter that resulted in an operating loss for Emery Worldwide of $370.4 million for the quarter and $377 million for the first half, according to an Aug. 9 filing by CNF with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In June, CNF officials said they had stemmed the flow of red ink from Emery's overall operations, but they expected its overnight business would continue to lose money until the economy improves.
Even then, they foresee no return to the 1990s' surging growth in air freight that built Emery into Dayton International's biggest employer. Emery Worldwide Chief Executive Officer Chutta Ratnathicam said his company would focus on the more profitable second-day and deferred-delivery market, which moves more freight by truck.
"When you break down Emery today, only about one-third of its business actually requires aircraft to service," he said in June.
The FAA's actions against Emery's airline didn't affect its hub, and Emery executives quickly contracted for overnight lift from Ryan International Airlines, a longtime Emery contractor, and seven other cargo air carriers, Colvert said.
"The timing was good because the market for contract airlift is soft right now, due to the economy and because August is generally a slow month, so we were able to line up all the planes we needed quickly," she said.
Indeed, Emery's executives boasted that the company's North American network moved more freight in the first days after the grounding than its daily average for July.
But neither CNF nor Emery executives have said what kind of financial impact the grounding and the increase in contract airlift is likely to have on the company. Colvert said Emery Worldwide and Emery airline executives couldn't take questions last week.
And both Emery and CNF face more problems:
ALPA has filed grievances aimed at grinding Emery's system to a halt. It contends Emery's furloughing of its pilots and its use of contract airlift in place of its own violate their labor agreement. CNF believes the grievances aren't valid, Colvert said.
A federal grand jury is considering possible criminal
charges against Emery concerning its handling of hazardous-materials cargo
shipments. Criminal charges are rare in the airline industry, but they happen:
Last year, Miami, Fla.-based Fine Air Services Corp. and cargo handler Aeromar Airlines agreed to pay $5 million in criminal fines
in connection with a 1997 Fine Air crash that killed five people near
The families of the three crewmembers killed in the Emery plane crash have filed wrongful death lawsuits against Emery Worldwide, the airline and CNF.
The U.S. Postal Service plans to terminate its Express Mail
contract with Emery Aug. 26. Ryan International flies the Express Mail freight
under subcontract to Emery with Emery-owned airplanes. Based in
Contact Timothy R. Gaffney at 225-2390 or e-mail him at timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
Emery, why did this occur?
By Jim Dillon
OF ALL THE QUESTIONS surrounding Emery Worldwide Airlines' grounding of its fleet last week, one keeps rising to the top: Why did Emery let this happen?
For 18 months, Emery operated under heightened scrutiny by the Federal Aviation Administration for recurring maintenance problems and safety hazards. Emery executives knew that unless those maintenance practices improved and the safety hazards subsided, the FAA might force the company to ground its fleet of air cargo jets.
That's exactly what the FAA did Aug. 11, after Emery "demonstrated an inability to address concerns to the root causes" of more than 100 alleged safety violations FAA inspectors tallied since January 2000, said Ava Mims, the FAA's deputy director for flight standards services.
The move came five months after the FAA proposed a $698,000 fine against Emery for alleged maintenance and hazardous-cargo violations. Emery had to know the FAA's patience was wearing thin.
Technically, Emery volunteered to ground its fleet rather than have the FAA yank its certificate to fly. But the end result was the same, and more than 800 Emery employees were furloughed for at least 30 days. Contractors hired by Emery will deliver its cargo.
It's too early to determine what impact the grounding will have on Emery's bottom line. But hiring contractors at the last minute normally is expensive, so it's logical to suspect the financial hit will be large, even though Emery is not paying its furloughed employees.
Emery can ill afford additional expenses. The company reported an operating loss of $377 million during the first six months of the year. Most of that loss stems from a restructuring charge Emery took to shrink its operating fleet from 54 to 37 jets. Emery needed to shrink the fleet in part because cargo volume has fallen significantly this year as the economy slows.
So with all of that in mind, why did Emery let the FAA force the grounding of its fleet?
Possible Explanation One: Emery executives failed to act because either they rejected what their own employees, particularly the pilots, were telling them about the state of their aircraft, or they got bad information from subordinates that led them to believe things weren't all that bad. Emery spokeswoman Nancy Colvert said the FAA's action caught the company by "surprise."
Possible Explanation Two: Perhaps Emery executives bet the FAA would not take action. The FAA has been known to move slowly when it comes to enforcement, so maybe Emery's leaders thought they had more time to fix the airline's problems.
Possible Explanation Three: The FAA hammered Emery because the National Transportation Safety Board was about to hold a hearing concerning the fatal crash of an Emery plane last year. Some observers believe the hearing would raise embarrassing questions about the FAA's oversight of Emery. The FAA said the hearing, which has been postponed, had no bearing on its decision to discipline Emery.
Possible Explanation Four: Perhaps Emery did not have the funds needed to correct long-standing maintenance and safety problems, so it did what it could and hoped for the best.
Possible Explanation Five: Emery let the FAA come in and thus give the company an opportunity to ultimately sell its fleet, cut expenses and use contractors instead.
Some critics believe that's just what Emery has in mind. The company says it has no plans to keep its fleet grounded.
Time will tell which explanations answer the question.
Emery pilots file protests
By Timothy R. Gaffney Dayton Daily News
Emery Worldwide on Monday furloughed about 800 people, including its pilots and other airline personnel, when it suspended its flights for at least 30 days under pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The action didn't affect Emery's freight-sorting operations
at its
Emery Worldwide Chief Executive Officer Chutta Ratnathicam said Wednesday the company moved more freight Monday and Tuesday night than it had averaged the previous week.
Not counting its airline subsidiary, Emery Worldwide employs
2,207 workers at its
But grievances filed by the Emery pilots' council of the Air Line Pilots Association could block Emery's use of contract carriers if the union wins in an arbitration process, the council's chairman said Wednesday. That process should lead to a binding arbitration decision in 60 days, said Mark Luthi, chairman of the Air Line Pilots Association's executive council.
Luthi said the union on Tuesday filed three grievances contending violations by Emery of its labor contract with the pilots. He said the contract has provisions prohibiting Emery from furloughing pilots for reasons under its control, from using contract carriers for more than a certain percentage of its flights, and from moving aircraft from its airline to other carriers.
"We can show that years back, (Emery) knew exactly what the problem was and did nothing about it," Luthi said.
In past stories, the Dayton Daily News described internal
records documenting pilot complaints of safety problems with Emery airplanes as
early as 1998. The records showed some pilots wrote warning letters to FAA
safety managers and top executives at Emery and CNF Inc., Emery's parent
corporation in
Luthi said Emery is violating a contractor provision in its labor agreement because it is now flying all of its freight on contractor airplanes. He also said Emery executives are "talking about" subleasing the airline's planes to other carriers.
"We're not going to comment on the individual grievances. We don't believe their grievances are valid. People should not panic" over claims that the hub might be shut down, CNF spokeswoman Nancy Colvert said.
Colvert said the pilots are understandably upset because they're out of work. "They're stirring the pot," she said.
Emery agreed to halt its flights in a Saturday meeting with FAA safety officials. The FAA says a series of special inspections since January 2000 turned up more than 100 federal rule violations by Emery and showed an "inability" by the airline to resolve its safety problems.
Contact Timothy R. Gaffney at 225-2390 or e-mail him at timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
ALPA Refutes Emery Claim of "Operations Without Disruption"
Contrary to claims made by Emery Worldwide that its freight transportation operations are continuing "without disruption" despite the suspension of Emery Worldwide Airlines flight operations, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) says that the grounding of the airline's fleet because of safety issues is just the start of the Emery's problems.
"Recently, Emery began to layoff pilots in an effort to shift flying to a number of subcontractors," said Capt. Mark Luthi, the chairman of the Emery unit at ALPA. "These layoffs, and the subsequent movement of work to subcontractors, are the subject of major union grievances that are scheduled for hearing and a decision by a neutral arbitrator later this month."
With Monday's shutdown of the airline, Emery has further accelerated its replacement of unionized employees with subcontractors and additional legal action has been taken in grievances naming the airline as well as a related freight forwarding company, Emery Worldwide. "With the potential of substantial liability for back pay for hundreds of employees, with its aircraft grounded, and with considerable limits placed on the amount of subcontracting Emery will be allowed to do, the airline and related corporations could face serious financial as well as legal problems in coming months," Luthi said.
"It appears that Emery will be unable to meet the needs of its customers and there will be continued reliability problems due to the shutdown with approximately 30 aircraft temporarily grounded," Luthi said. "The parent company, CNF, has attempted to put a good face on the continuing series of setbacks but so far the only solution management of the parent company has come up with is to violate and ignore union contracts."
"Contacts with airline managers indicate that they are being kept in the dark by CNF management and have no idea what is being planned by their counterparts at CNF," Luthi added. "They have been unable to offer any information to the hundreds of employees whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by the sudden decision to close the doors of the airline. Requests that meetings be held with the union leadership have so far been met with silence."
ALPA is the union representing most commercial airline
pilots in
CAPA Asks FAA to Regulate "One Standard of Safety" for All Airlines Supplemental Regulations Lessen Safety Standards for Many Cargo Carriers
Supplemental Regulations Lessen Safety Standards for Many Cargo Carriers
"Safety concerns such as pilot fatigue are a critical problem today," said Captain David Webb, president of the FedEx Pilots Association. "Unfortunately, most Americans are unaware that the FAA does not apply a single standard of safety to all commercial pilots. As an example, the limits on flight- time/duty-time imposed on FedEx as a supplemental carrier are not as comprehensive as those applied to the average passenger pilot. We all fly in the same airspace, right next to, above, below, and around passenger aircraft, so the lowest safety standard present, in effect, becomes the controlling safety standard. Addressing this issue is a crucial first step in improving overall airline safety."
The FAA is tasked with regulating the flying environment and ensuring the safety of passengers, pilots, and crew.
The nature of the cargo business in the
"There are significant differences in the rules that supplemental cargo carriers are subject to," said Capt. Bob Miller, CAPA Chairman. "We believe that pilots of major overnight package-delivery companies deserve the same high level of safety provided by the rules for scheduled passengers operations. It makes sense that applying these standards to all carriers conducting scheduled cargo operations would enhance safety for the crew and the public."
About CAPA
CAPA is a trade association that operates on a consensus basis to address issues of concern to professional airline pilots. Its members include the Allied Pilots Association (American Airlines), FedEx Pilots Association, Independent Pilots Association (UPS), Southwest Airlines Pilots Association, National Pilots Association (AirTran Airways), the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Airline Division, and International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1224, which represents Airborne Express pilots. CAPA member groups represent a total of 26,000 pilots. For more about CAPA, please visit its website at http://www.capapilots.org .
Associated Press
Aug. 16 - Emery Worldwide Airline’s pilots union has filed grievances against the company saying its use of contracted carriers while its air fleet is grounded violates the pilots’ contract.
Emery Worldwide Airline’s pilots union has filed grievances against the company saying its use of contracted carriers while its air fleet is grounded violates the pilots’ contract.
On Monday, Emery suspended flights and furloughed about 800 workers for at least a month.
The company continues to make overnight deliveries using contracted air carriers. Union chairman Mark Luthi says the labor contract bars Emery from furloughing pilots for reasons under its control. It also restricts Emery’s use of contract carriers to a certain percentage of flights.
Luthi says Emery is violating the contract because it’s flying all freight on contract planes. He says the company also had control over the safety issues that led to violations of F-A-A safety rules.
Emery declined to comment on the grievances.
(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
FAA's Stance Against Emery
Shows Tough New Emphasis
By Andy Pasztor and Rick Brooks
Staff Reporters of The Wall Street Journal
It took more than two years, a couple of gut-wrenching emergencies and thousands of pages of documents alleging safety lapses before government regulators this week moved to ground Emery Worldwide Airlines Inc.
But in the future, Federal Aviation Administration officials aren't likely to wait nearly that long before cracking down if problems emerge at some of the nation's other air-cargo carriers, according to pilots, industry executives and air-safety experts.
On Monday, Emery, a unit of CNF Inc.,
The FAA's unusually tough stance against Emery -- even after the Redwood City, Calif., airline worked closely for months with federal inspectors and promised to take further steps to improve its maintenance operations -- shows that the agency is becoming more aggressive in an area that critics contend has too long been given short shrift.
The new emphasis comes as cargo carriers as a group have posted a 40% revenue increase over the past few years, making their area one of the fastest-growing commercial aviation segments. Generally relying on older planes, cargo carriers operate under significantly less stringent rules and procedures than passenger airlines. The disparities range from differences in training and rest requirements for crews to a lack of mandatory onboard collision-avoidance systems. Cargo carriers proportionately are involved in more safety incidents than large passenger airlines. Last year, a study by the Dutch National Aerospace Laboratory partly blamed the two-tier system for the disproportionately high accident rate of cargo versus passenger aircraft.
Outside Repair Shops
By grounding Emery, both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates accidents and makes safety recommendations, have served notice they will step up scrutiny of cargo haulers. Of particular interest: the use of outside repair shops that provide continuing maintenance and perform major overhauls on many of their planes.
Calling it "an area that needs attention," Jim Hall, a former NTSB chairman, says regulators and cargo haulers "need to take steps to build a strong safety culture." It's particularly important, he adds, to "get active carrier oversight if you are going to contract out your maintenance."
Industry leaders FedEx Corp.,
In addition to Emery, carriers that rely heavily on outside
repair facilities include Miami-based Fine Air Services Corp.; Gemini Air Cargo
in
Unsigned Work Cards
One portion of that inquiry involves missing documents,
unsigned work cards and other lack of controls safety board investigators found
when they reviewed records at Tennessee Technical Services LLC,
Even the largest cargo players rely on outside contractors for maintenance jobs. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings Inc., Purchase, N.Y., which is the world's third-largest cargo airline, sends its 37-plane fleet to Germany's Lufthansa Airlines and two other large carriers for heavy maintenance, while other outside companies handle routine check-ups.
Like Emery, smaller cargo carriers also often hire various contractors to help maintain and load aircraft as well as screen shipments for hazardous materials.
Criminal Fines
Last year, Fine Air and cargo handler Aeromar
Airlines agreed to pay $5 million in criminal fines after an investigation
found that a 1997 Fine Air crash that killed five people near
A group of Emery pilots in 1999 began in earnest to assemble a four-inch thick black binder laying out their safety concerns. The rate of engines that overheated or had to be shut down in flight was many times higher than those on newer passenger aircraft, while some pilots claimed they were pressured to fly aircraft with chronic hydraulic leaks, malfunctioning autopilots or other inoperative cockpit instruments.
Yet regulators failed to act decisively, even after one of
Emery's 1960s-vintage DC-8s plummeted into a field near an open-air flea market
near
A spokesman for Emery said it was the only incident linked
to a plane overhauled by the
F.A.A. Orders Troubled Freight Carrier to Suspend Flights
By MATTHEW L. WALD
The New York Times
The Federal Aviation Administration (news - web sites) forced Emery Worldwide Airlines, a cargo airline, to ground its fleet of planes because of extensive maintenance problems.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 13 The Federal Aviation Administration forced Emery Worldwide Airlines, a cargo airline with its hub in Dayton, Ohio, to ground its fleet of planes today because of extensive maintenance problems.
The F.A.A. described a litany of problems with the airline, which it said had accumulated more than 100 violations, mostly for ignoring maintenance problems or fixing things poorly.
For example, in February and April, crews reported problems
with the cabin pressurization system of one of the airline's DC-10's 17 times
before it was fixed. Also this year, mechanics installed the wrong valve on a
landing gear hydraulic system, so that the gear would not lower, forcing the
crew to skid to a stop on the engine housing on a runway in
A company spokesman said that the company would fly a full schedule tonight, using contractor airplanes, and deliver all its shipments without interruption. But he also raised the possibility that Emery might never fly again. A spokesman for the pilots' union said that in the current slump in the air freight business the company might have engineered its own suspension as a money-saving move.
The F.A.A.'s action came a week
before a scheduled hearing now postponed by the National Transportation Safety
Board into the crash of an Emery DC-8 soon after takeoff from
The member of the safety board who will conduct the hearing into the Sacramento crash, John Goglia, a maintenance expert, said that the crash "has a number of similarities to ValuJet," referring to the DC-9 passenger plane that crashed in the Florida Everglades in May 1996, killing 110 people. The immediate cause of the crash was hazardous cargo, but a deeper problem was ValuJet's failure to supervise a maintenance contractor and the F.A.A.'s failure to supervise either the airline or the maintenance firm. "We went through this drill already," Mr. Goglia said. "Why are we back here again? What happened that they didn't get the message?
"The safety board hearing has been postponed because, Mr. Goglia said, he could not get the attention of Emery's senior management at this point.
The decision by the F.A.A. to seek the grounding of Emery's fleet was reported today in The Washington Post.
Emery Worldwide is a subsidiary of CNF Inc., the former Consolidated Freightways. It also builds truck trailers and carries freight by truck and ship, and provides logistics services.
F.A.A. officials said today that the agency had been
intensely monitoring Emery since the beginning of 2000 and acted now because it
had built a strong legal case and had "a lack of confidence in the
carrier's ability or willingness to perform," said Ava
L. Mims, the deputy director of the F.A.A.'s Flight
Standards Service. But an official of the Air Line Pilots Association, the
union that represents the approximately 500 pilots at Emery, said the final
straw might have been what happened to a DC-8 with a broken fuel gauge on a
flight last week from
A company spokesman said he was not aware of that flight.
The union official, Capt. Thomas G. Rachford, said that in the last year and a half the Emery fleet had had 3 depressurizations in flight, 2 occasions on which jet engines stopped working, 25 occasions in which engines overheated, and one case of a main cargo door opening during takeoff. "We were convinced we were going to kill somebody," Mr. Rachford said.
Ms. Mims said the F.A.A. built its case partly on information in complaints from the pilots. Those pilots will now be without work for at least a month and probably much longer. In all, 800 people will be furloughed, the company said.
Mr. Rachford, who said he had flown for Emery for nine years, said that his union would seek to have Emery pilots paid even though the airline was grounded. Senior pilots are paid about $130,000 a year, he said.
Mr. Rachford said that Emery had recently laid off some pilots and wanted to lay off more, and might be seeking to return to the days when all its freight was carried by contractors.
But James R. Allen, a company spokesman, denied that this was the company's strategy and said Emery intended to fly again.
Mr. Allen added, however, that under the terms of the shutdown agreement, the F.A.A. would take the next month to determine what steps Emery would have to take to resume flying."
We have to take into consideration how much that will cost, and how long it will take," he said. "We need to consider whether these conditions are realistic." He said the company realized it had problems but had been addressing them, and was surprised by the ultimatum it was given last Saturday, to shut down for an "interim" period or face permanent revocation of its certificate to fly.
The company will do what is in the best interest of shareholders and customers, he said, and the F.A.A. "may put a set of conditions on us so onerous that it's not possible.
"Last week the company was operating 38 planes, he said, 30 of its own and 8 under contract; tonight it will also fly 38, all contractors, he said.
"There's a recession, not a shortage of aircraft," he said.
Ryanair flies 10 aircraft that it leases from Emery and that are painted in Emery's colors, but are operated under Ryanair's certificate, according to Ms. Mims. They will not be affected by the agreement. Other carriers also fly on a contract basis. Mr. Allen said that Emery Worldwide Airlines existed to carry the freight of a related company, the Emery Worldwide Freight Company, and that until this week, 60 percent of the Emery cargo was shipped on the Emery airline and 40 percent on other planes or by truck. The company specializes in packages of 70 pounds or more, he said.
Mr. Rachford said that parceling out the shipments among other small carriers would not help safety; it would multiply the number of operations that the F.A.A. would have to oversee, he said.
Clouds gather over Emery contractor
Ryan International involved in lawsuit
By Timothy R. Gaffney
DAYTON | Ryan International Airlines is flying much of Emery Worldwide's freight while Emery's own airline is grounded because of safety issues, but it can be difficult to tell the two apart.
Ryan International has been hauling freight for Emery for more than 20 years, often in Emery-owned airplanes that are painted in Emery's colors, Ryan International Chairman and Founder Ron Ryan said Tuesday. A 1977 contract to fly overnight letters for Emery in a small jet started a long-lasting relationship that expanded Ryan International's business from a charter service to a cargo airline with large jets and 1,500 employees.
For the past several years, Ryan said, his Wichita,
Kan.-based company has been flying several Emery-painted jets in and out of
Ryan International flies another 22 Boeing 727s out of
That close relationship paid off for both companies last weekend, when Emery agreed to suspend its flight operations for at least 30 days starting Monday under pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration. Emery lined up eight contractors to meet Monday's delivery schedule, but Ryan International took a large share of it.
Since Ryan International was already flying nearly a third of Emery's nightly tonnage, "They probably have the largest percentage of any operator," said Nancy Colvert, spokeswoman for CNF Inc., Emery's parent company.
Emery suspended its flights because the FAA was preparing to revoke its airline certificate after finding more than 100 violations in its maintenance, training and operations since January 2000.
Emery's grounding didn't include the Emery-owned jets Ryan International flies because Ryan International operates and maintains them under its own airline certificate, Ryan said.
"Our maintenance is not theirs, and theirs is not ours," he said.
But a lawyer for two ex-Ryan International pilots said the problems the FAA said it found with Emery are similar to her clients' complaints.
"The findings of the FAA (regarding Emery) are like a mirror" of safety problems alleged by Eugenia Smith of Dallas, and Carlton Randolph McClain of New Hope, Minn., Cincinnati attorney Ann Lugbill said.
Smith and McClain are suing both Ryan International and
Emery in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in
The lawsuit, filed in 1997, claims Emery and Ryan International made false statements about the safety of its aircraft to the U.S. Postal Service. Emery has had several Postal Service contracts and has subcontracted Ryan International to fly some of the mail.
Smith and McClain claim Ryan International discouraged pilots from reporting problems that might hurt the airline's on-time performance record, and that many items were improperly repaired or went unrepaired while reports were written to reflect more minor problems that could be put off. They allege the airline fired them as a result of their complaints about the practice.
"Our allegations are extremely consistent with the FAA findings, and yet Emery and Ryan have denied under oath that the flights they made were unsafe," Lugbill said.
Ryan said the lawsuit "has no merit, in our opinion."
He disputed the pilots claims that they were forced to fly unsafe planes and said Emery pays Ryan International to fly mail under a fixed-fee contract that doesn't include incentives for meeting on-time goals.
"Ryan doesn't get paid an extra penny whether we fly on time or not on time," he said.
Contact Timothy R. Gaffney at 225-2390 or e-mail him at timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com
Industry experts see ‘outsourcing’ and restructuring ahead
By Christopher Montgomery
DAYTON | CNF Inc.'s grounding of its Emery Worldwide Airlines unit, in response to U.S. Federal Aviation Administration threats, will probably lead to a substantial restructuring of the troubled cargo hauler, according to industry experts.
Under a new plan, Emery would most likely hire other airline operators to fly and maintain its fleet of 38 jets, they said.
The immediate impact of such a move on the local economy —
and particularly on the roughly 3,400 people employed at Emery's operations at
But Emery's long-term prospects would improve greatly by outsourcing its fleet, experts said.
"The FAA has given CNF management a golden opportunity
to get out of the business of managing its own planes," said Ned Laird,
managing director of the Air Cargo Management Group (ACMG), an aviation
consulting and research firm based in
In July, Palo Alto, Calif.-based CNF took a second-quarter
charge of $207.7 million for restructuring Emery. The
"In times like this, everyone's trying to save money," Laird said. "So a lot of the traffic Emery had during the expansion era of 1996 to 2000 is getting moved to trucking and other, cheaper types of shipping."
Laird said he wouldn't be surprised if CNF quickly shifted the leases on its planes to other operators once the current situation with the FAA is resolved. If that happened, Emery would relinquish responsibility of its aircraft, but the planes would still bear the Emery name, he said.
Tying up assets in expensive jets simply doesn't make sense, according to John Barnes, an analyst with New York-based Deutsche Banc Alex Brown.
"People just don't understand how phenomenally expensive it is to fly airplanes," Barnes said. "The costs are endless. We're talking pilots, maintenance personnel, landing fees. And that's money the company could be devoting elsewhere."
Barnes said he thinks Emery will take its time with a decision.
"Emery's still feeling its way around, getting a handle on what its options are," Barnes said. "But I think they clearly see the positives of outsourcing."
Craig Sirois, an analyst with Value Line Inc., a New York-based research firm, said CNF doesn't have many options beyond divesting its planes.
"Emery, as it's organized now, is a real drag on CNF," Sirois said. "It's not going to exit the business completely, but I think you'll see it turn more into a logistics-oriented company. Making sure a package gets from point A to point B will be the goal, not controlling every step along the way."
Contact Christopher Montgomery at 225-2348 or e-mail him at cmontgomery@coxohio.com
CNF's Emery Worldwide Airlines Unit Suspends Operations
Business Editors
PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 13, 2001--CNF Inc. announced today that its Emery Worldwide Airlines unit has suspended its air carrier operations as part of an interim agreement with the FAA. EWA said it expects to resume operations when issues raised by the FAA are resolved.
Emery Worldwide air freight company,
which is separate from the airline, will continue operations on a full-scale
global basis. "There will be no interruption of freight service and Emery
air freight will meet all of the day-to-day operating requirements of our
customers both in
He said that Emery Worldwide has made arrangements to
service customers in
However, Emery Worldwide Airlines said it would be forced to furlough up to 800 airline pilots, crewmembers and other administrative personnel, as necessary.
CNF Inc. is a $5.3 billion management company of global supply chain services with businesses in regional trucking, airfreight, ocean freight, customs brokerage, global logistics management and trailer manufacturing.
FAA Plans to Ground Emery Cargo Fleet
Repair Discrepancies Found at Airline
By Don Phillips
Monday,
The Federal Aviation Administration, concerned about numerous maintenance discrepancies and two maintenance-caused crashes, plans to force the grounding of all of Emery Worldwide Airlines' cargo planes, federal sources said yesterday.
The FAA on Saturday gave the company until
Although Emery, a subsidiary of CNF Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., is one of the nation's major cargo airlines, other sources stressed that customers probably would be unaffected by the shutdown. The company, which is one part of a much larger transportation and logistics management company, is arranging with other air freight carriers to handle the needs of its customers, the sources said.
An FAA shutdown of a major carrier is extremely rare. Occasionally the agency will crack down on smaller regional air carriers, but the last shutdown of a major airline was ValuJet in June 1996. That shutdown was also for maintenance practices and also involved a voluntary shutdown rather than having the FAA take the action.
FAA officials said privately that the agency had conducted four major inspections of the airline over the last year and a half, pointing out numerous discrepancies including improper repairs, unapproved parts installation, operation of unairworthy aircraft, failure to follow procedures in company manuals and inadequate record keeping. Despite the heightened attention, the problems continued, they said, and the company still failed to properly oversee its maintenance contractors.
FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown confirmed that FAA officials had met with Emery officials, but declined to say what was discussed. "Emery has been and remains under heightened oversight," she said.
Nancy Colvert, a spokeswoman for CNF Inc., would not discuss details. "We're meeting with the FAA now, and we don't have anything to say yet," she said.
The latest round of complaints about Emery's maintenance came from its own pilots, who were upset that the mechanical irregularities they reported were not getting fixed, sources said.
However, much of the attention on Emery came from crashes that appeared to be related to maintenance.
The National Transportation Safety Board was scheduled to
conduct a hearing tomorrow on Emery's maintenance practices in light of a
An Emery DC-8 also crash-landed at
NTSB member John Goglia said yesterday he is seriously considering postponing the hearing. "I want to take a serious look at whether it would be prudent to hold the hearing since the [Emery] senior management team will be dealing with other issues and will not be available to testify at this time," Goglia said.
Emery Worldwide, with $2.4 billion in revenue, is a subsidiary of CNF, which last year reported net income of $135.1 million and revenue of $5.7 billion. Emery Worldwide includes both air freight and ocean-shipping components, and the air freight component is not broken out separately in CNF financial statements.
According to a database maintained by Airclaims
Ltd. of
On June 14, CNF announced plans to reduce the fleet to 38 aircraft and lay off about 900 workers, about 11 percent of the workforce. Emery lost $25.2 million in the second quarter of the year, and CNF said the airline would have a third-quarter loss of $8 million to $10 million.
The trade newsletter "Cargo Facts" of
The airline received an economic blow in May when the U.S. Postal Service announced that on Aug. 26, it would terminate Emery's contract to haul express mail. The termination of the contract, which had been scheduled to go into 2004, came after the Postal Service signed a contract with FedEx to haul express mail and some priority mail starting Aug. 27.
The Postal Service agreed to pay Emery as much as $125 million for the early termination, but the company is pressing for more.
© 2001 The Washington Post Company
FAA reviews safety record of air freight hauler Emery Maintenance scrutinized at problem-plagued carrier
By Alan Levin
Several sources said the maintenance problems and other issues have led the Federal Aviation Administration to consider sanctioning the company.
''We've conducted a number of inspections, and we're reviewing the information we gathered to see whether enforcement action is warranted,'' FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.
The National Transportation Safety Board plans to conduct a
hearing later this month into Emery as a result of a fatal crash last year near
Emery representatives said the accounts of problems at the carrier were inaccurate, but they declined to provide specifics. ''We are not aware that the FAA is preparing to take the sanctions against us that your newspaper is alleging and which are based on unnamed sources,'' spokeswoman Nancy Colvert said.
The issues under investigation are similar to the problems
that the NTSB concluded led to the 1996 crash of ValuJet Flight 592. The jet
caught fire and crashed into the
At Emery, there is evidence that maintenance performed by outside contractors was not properly overseen and that the company lacked procedures to ensure high-quality work, sources familiar with the airline say. Among the incidents:
* The
* An April 26 crash landing in
* A
John Goglia, the NTSB board member who will chair the Emery hearing, says he believes airline maintenance needs more attention. ''There is something that has changed in the maintenance process that has led to an increase in the number of accidents and incidents,'' Goglia says.
Emery Pilots File Protests
Timothy R. Gaffney Dayton Daily News
Emery Worldwide on Monday furloughed about 800 people, including its pilots and other airline personnel, when it suspended its flights for at least 30 days under pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration.
The action didn't affect Emery's freight-sorting operations
at its
Emery Worldwide Chief Executive Officer Chutta Ratnathicam said Wednesday the company moved more freight Monday and Tuesday night than it had averaged the previous week.
Not counting its airline subsidiary, Emery Worldwide employs
2,207 workers at its
Luthi said the union on Tuesday filed three grievances contending violations by Emery of its labor contract with the pilots. He said the contract has provisions prohibiting Emery from furloughing pilots for reasons under its control, from using contract carriers for more than a certain percentage of its flights, and from moving aircraft from its airline to other carriers.
"We can show that years back, (Emery) knew exactly what the problem was and did nothing about it," Luthi said.
In past stories, the Dayton Daily News described internal
records documenting pilot complaints of safety problems with Emery airplanes as
early as 1998. The records showed some pilots wrote warning letters to FAA
safety managers and top executives at Emery and CNF Inc., Emery's parent
corporation in
Luthi said Emery is violating a contractor provision in its labor agreement because it is now flying all of its freight on contractor airplanes. He also said Emery executives are "talking about" subleasing the airline's planes to other carriers.
"We're not going to comment on the individual grievances. We don't believe their grievances are valid. People should not panic" over claims that the hub might be shut down, CNF spokeswoman Nancy Colvert said.
Colvert said the pilots are understandably upset because they're out of work. "They're stirring the pot," she said.
Emery agreed to halt its flights in a Saturday meeting with FAA safety officials. The FAA says a series of special inspections since January 2000 turned up more than 100 federal rule violations by Emery and showed an "inability" by the airline to resolve its safety problems.
* Contact Timothy R. Gaffney at 225-2390 or e-mail him at timothy_gaffney@coxohio.com