An outside team of aviation safety experts will review the government’s oversight of the airline industry in the wake of the maintenance scandal that has rocked the aviation industry in recent weeks, Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Friday.
Peters also demanded that federal aviation regulators and American Airlines explain why the airline had to ground nearly […]

Avfuel Corp., a nationwide supplier of aviation fuel, is planning an expansion of its corporate headquarters on Ellsworth Road in Washtenaw County’s Scio Township.
Plans submitted to the township call for two additions totaling 14,544 square feet. The existing building, on Ellsworth between State Street and Stone School Road, is 19,803 square feet.
Township planning director Bruce […]

The Federal Aviation Administration should “clean house from top to bottom” and has too cozy a relationship with the airlines, the head of a congressional committee investigating airline safety inspections said Friday.
The problems have led to the sort of lax enforcement that allowed Southwest Airlines Co. to fly at least 117 aircraft past mandatory inspection […]

Aviation darling buffeted by inspection program inquiries
The immaculate airline may be in for a fall from grace.
For years the darling of aviation, Southwest Airlines suddenly faces a public assault on its safety record from regulators and senior lawmakers.
Separate congressional and Federal Aviation Administration investigations this week detailed what one senior lawmaker called “strong evidence of […]

Planes flew without mandatory inspections; carrier says flaws fixed
The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday it would fine Southwest Airlines Co. $10.2 million for safety violations that included knowingly flying more than three dozen jets without mandatory inspections for structural damage.
The fine would be the largest ever levied against an airline, the FAA said.
When Southwest belatedly […]