Unqualified personnel led to planes being grounded – Mbalula

South African Airways Technical (SAAT), which conducts maintenance on aircraft, employed unqualified personnel to sign off on work, which led to the grounding of several planes this week, Minister of Transport Fikile Mbalula said yesterday.

A SA Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) inspection established that some of the aircraft were released into service by engineers who did not meet the aviation watchdog’s ratings standards.

It was not clear how they were allowed to perform such critical tasks without the necessary qualifications, raising questions about the level of checks and balances.

The minister said the civil aviation authority made five findings of non-compliance at SAAT, which resulted in the grounding of 44 planes on Tuesday.

“Two findings related to the unqualified personnel releasing or signing off maintenance work, and maintenance checks on flight data recorders and voice recorders that had not been done correctly,” he said at OR Tambo International Airport yesterday.

With 25 of its aircraft affected, SAA, whose entire fleet is maintained by SAAT, was the hardest hit, followed by Comair with 12 aircraft affected and Mango with seven aircraft affected.

Mbalula said the findings on two sampled Mango and ComAir aircraft had raised concerns that the problems might have affected the entire fleets of the three airlines, although the aviation watchdog accepted the corrective action plan submitted by SAAT.

“It is against this backdrop that the Civil Aviation Authority engaged the affected airlines to solicit assurance that the rest of the fleet did not display the same deficiencies,” Mbalula said.

SAAT has been the subject of negative publicity after allegations that it had been infiltrated by rogue elements using fake spare parts, which the department and SAA board has dismissed as false.

“Issues of corruption in the transport ecosystem must be confronted so that people continue to feel safe and are safe.

“But people must also feel proud that they are contributing to building the future and their own country. Corruption robs us of that pride,” the minister said.

The civil aviation authority’s chief executive officer, Poppy Khoza, said the other three findings were not serious as they involved minor administrative procedures.

Khoza confirmed the fateful inspection was triggered by “allegations of wrongdoing in the media.”

SAA spokesperson Tlali Tlali confirmed that 25 of the airline’s 44 aircraft were affected by the inspection at SAAT. He said the main reason for grounding the aircraft had to do with the process that led to the release of the aircraft into service after maintenance work.

“For aircraft to be released into service following maintenance, an appropriately qualified person must issue a Certificate of Release to Service.

“The CAA audit process established that some aircraft were released into service by engineers who did not meet the conditions set by the CAA in terms of their ratings.”

Tlali Tlali added that at the heart of this was concern about the ratings of the engineers who issued the CRS, and not that the personnel who maintained and repaired the aircraft were not qualified.

“That is the distinct difference between the two points of the maintenance value chain.”

Tlali Tlali added that the airline had put the aircraft through a compliance verification process to ensure they met CAA regulations.

– siphom@citizen.co.za

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