The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has proposed a fine of more than $700,000 on Allegiant Air for allegedly ignoring an engine maintenance directive.
The agency says Allegiant operated more than two dozen flights on a McDonnell Douglas MD-88 after deactivating the plane’s automatic reverse thrust system.
In 2017 the airline asked the FAA if it could deactivate the reverse thrust system when the engine’s exhaust gas temperature reached above normal limits.
In response the FAA said: "Deactivating that system would be improper unless the system caused the excess temperature, because the temperature exceedance could have other causes."
"When this occurs, the MD-80 maintenance manual calls for turning off the automatic reverse thrust system, finding the cause of the excess temperature and correcting the cause before turning the system on again," the FAA said.
Allegiant, however, did not determine the cause of the excess temperature. … Instead, the carrier deactivated the system on April 14, 2018, and installed an inoperative placard on it."
The agency said Allegiant then operated 28 flights without identifying the cause of the high temperature issue.
Thus, it ‘violated the terms of its FAA-issued operations specifications.’
Allegiant no longer operates the McDonnell Douglas aircraft.
The airline was given 30 days to respond.
