Civil Penalty Against Sierra Academy

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FAA Proposes $204,050 Civil Penalty Against Sierra Academy of Aeronautics

LOS ANGELES – The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing a $204,050 civil penalty against Sierra Academy of Aeronautics of Atwater, Calif., for allegedly operating nine Cessna 152 airplanes when they were not in compliance with Federal Aviation Regulations.

The FAA alleges Sierra mechanics failed to inspect the planes’ seat locking pins according to the requirements of an Airworthiness Directive (AD). The FAA issued the AD following reports of seats slipping when a latch pin was not properly engaged, which could lead to the pilot losing control of the airplane.

Sierra allegedly operated the nine aircraft on a total of 358 flights, including instruction and rental flights, when they had not been properly inspected. The FAA also alleges Sierra improperly recorded a maintenance log entry for one of the aircraft.

Sierra has 30 days from the receipt of the FAA's enforcement letter to respond to the agency.

 

[hook_dupin]

Doh... Even my mom knows about the Cessna seat rail AD.

 

[Taylor Glass]

Wow, I would assume that's going to be the death penalty for that school. Seems like too steep a penalty to absorb.

 

[wolf79]

Well unless they work something out with the FAA. There are a lot of good instructors at this school and I hope it works out for them.

 

[Roger Roger]

Doh... Even my mom knows about the Cessna seat rail AD.

Having been witness to way too many "unfriendly" dealings between inspectors and operators, I would hazard a guess at 2 things.
First, the school has a "reputation" and they are probably getting away with a lot of stuff that is hard/impossible to prove. From what I've seen when the Feds nail a small operator for something like this they're doing it because it's the only concrete thing they have on them.
Second, it's quite possible that the inspections WERE done but were not done properly (which usually means, they were not done per the whim of the PMI of the hour) or the recording of said inspections was not satisfactory to the inspector.
I guess what I'm saying is, there is almost certainly more to this than meets the eye. Inspectors really don't like to issue violations, and I find it unlikely that the school simply didn't do an inspection that everyone who knows Cessna singles is aware of.

 

[hook_dupin]

Having been witness to way too many "unfriendly" dealings between inspectors and operators, I would hazard a guess at 2 things.
First, the school has a "reputation" and they are probably getting away with a lot of stuff that is hard/impossible to prove. From what I've seen when the Feds nail a small operator for something like this they're doing it because it's the only concrete thing they have on them.
Second, it's quite possible that the inspections WERE done but were not done properly (which usually means, they were not done per the whim of the PMI of the hour) or the recording of said inspections was not satisfactory to the inspector.
I guess what I'm saying is, there is almost certainly more to this than meets the eye. Inspectors really don't like to issue violations, and I find it unlikely that the school simply didn't do an inspection that everyone who knows Cessna singles is aware of.

I've seen the politics play out. What I haven't seen before is an organization turn the corner in the eyes of the FAA inspector types....

 

[Roger Roger]

I've seen the politics play out. What I haven't seen before is an organization turn the corner in the eyes of the FAA inspector types....

Not quite sure I understood, you mean you haven't seen one change their ways and go to the light side?

 

[hook_dupin]

Not quite sure I understood, you mean you haven't seen one change their ways and go to the light side?

Right, so I think half of these problems are compliance and the other half are personality driven. I've seen a few 135 and 141 operations get to point where fines or potential certificate actions get fixed, but the impact of personality issues still persist.

 

[Roger Roger]

Right, so I think half of these problems are compliance and the other half are personality driven. I've seen a few 135 and 141 operations get to point where fines or potential certificate actions get fixed, but the impact of personality issues still persist.

Gotcha. Yeah. I would agree.