As being reported in Airline Transport World
Beleaguered Qantas withdraws six 737s over paperwork 'irregularity'
Wednesday August 13, 2008
Qantas's safety record likely will fall under further scrutiny after it announced the withdrawal of six 737-400s from service while it cross-checked maintenance records relating to modification work carried out in one of its Australian facilities.
Qantas Engineering Executive GM David Cox said the issue was one of procedure and there were no safety implications. "Qantas discovered an irregularity with paperwork for these aircraft during an internal integrity check of maintenance records," he said. "In line with our prudent response to any maintenance issue, however minor, we have elected to suspend the operation of the six aircraft while we ensure all our records are 100% accurate and we have advised the Civil Aviation Safety Authority."
Cox confirmed that staff "regularly check our records and detect a record-keeping anomaly on average once a year." The latest hiccup comes during a special audit by Australia's aviation safety regulator that was prompted by a series of incidents involving the carrier (ATWOnline, Aug. 12).
by Geoffrey Thomas