ABC Online
ABC News - Plane engineers allege Virgin safety scares
Posted: Wed, 5 Mar 2003 17:52 AEDT
Plane engineers allege Virgin safety scares
The Australian Industrial Relations Commission has begun hearing how changes to Virgin Blue's pre-flight safety system are allegedly compromising public safety.
The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association has been summoned to the commission after calling a stop-work meeting for next Monday.
Virgin Blue has decided that apart from the first check of the day, all other plane inspections should be conducted by pilots.
But the association's Michael O'Rance says downgrading aircraft engineers' role in preflight safety checks is dangerously lowering standards.
He says the association will detail six critical safety incidents over the past month in which public safety was compromised under the new guidelines, and his members welcome the chance to put their case to the IRC.