FCC Shuts Down International Jet Repairs

A company that fixes airplane parts has been shut down for making improper repairs and then falsifying records to cover up the mistakes, federal regulators said. International Jet Repairs Inc. “no longer possesses the degree of care, judgment and responsibility required to hold an air agency certificate,” the Federal Aviation Administration wrote in its order. Air safety was “significantly compromised” by the suburban Hialeah, Fla., company, it said. The company repaired engine combustion chambers for a Texas-based parts supplier, Dallas Aerospace Inc., which in turn shipped them to Air Canada. Officials at Air Canada found that a key coating was either missing or faulty on many of the chambers, so it shipped them back to Dallas Aerospace, which notified the FAA. Inspectors who checked the inventory of Dallas Aerospace found at least 168 engine combustion chambers that had been improperly repaired by International Jet from September 1996 to July of this year. The parts are used in Boeing 727s and 737s and DC9 aircraft. The FAA said International Jet falsely certified that the parts had been installed properly. The discovery of the problem by airline officials rather than the FAA renewed concerns about the federal agency’s oversight of airplane repairs.