AA owes its passengers and the USA an explanation. There is no excuse for this. They had the money. I heard the execs put big money into their pockets this month. Why wasn't the money put into maintenance? Deceptive practice. Thank God no one was injured in a crash due to this extreme negligence. I will never fly AA again.

Is this wiring business just inspection or is it a design flaw?

The reason the cancellations are happening are not what they seem. Industry insiders claim this is a ploy due to a lack of operating capital. They want a gov bailout to save them and they are using this FAA issue to justify the bailout. Just wait and see as the truth comes out.

I blame AA management. They know these planes need inspection and they waited until they were caught by the FAA audit. I will never fly American Airlines again, they decieved the passengers and the American public by not conducting routine maintenance on its planes. Faulty wiring, empty oxygen tanks, faulty defibrillators, masturbating passengers, etc., Gerard Arpey please step down and leave the CEO positions to the people who can handle it. Bring back Carty.

Not only is some of the maintenance done in China or Mexico, but the wiring and composite materials that make up some aircraft parts comes from China.
If you want a good example just try a new Macbook made in China which under temperature change will form lengthy cracks. This is not only dangerous, but another example of the government doing nothing to protect its people if it stands in the way of company profits. You get what you vote for.

United Airlines needs to quit doing major maintenance in China...asking for trouble!!!!!

People wake up... Ask yourself where are most things made that fail?... foreign countries... Look at local stores and find out how many toys made in china are dangerous for children... yet we are letting them make crucial parts for airplanes... I lived in china for over a year... they are very secretive about these parts and would not let the american civilians in most of the production plant... armed guards were there to keep out the americans.... there is no love for americans in most of these countries..

I watched a special on the History Channel about the MD-80, the tail section has a serious design flaw, and requires constant maintenance, in something (part) that controls the rutter and flapps-on that tail section. I am no engineer or any sort, but the History Channel is pretty up front on their information. If that part fails in the T-tail, and it has in the past (crashed planes), there is no way to control the aircraft.
· The aircraft will tend to be much more prone to a dangerous deep stall condition, where blanking of the airflow over the tailplane and elevators by a stalled wing can lead to total loss of pitch control. The F-101 Voodoo suffered from this throughout its service life.
· For similar reasons, T-tailed aircraft can be much more difficult to recover from a fully-developed spin.
· The fin must be made considerably stronger and stiffer to support the forces generated by the tailplane. Unless expensive composite materials are used, this inevitably makes it heavier as well.
· The control runs to the elevators are more complex.
· The elevator surfaces are much more difficult to casually inspect from the ground.
· Because of concerns about being able to clear the tail, the first high-speed aircraft with a T-tail, the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, was at first fitted with a downward-firing ejector seat. For later models of this aircraft, capabilities of ejection seats improved, so it was changed to an upward-firing one, to overcome problems in low-altitude escapes.
· Due to a lack of airflow over the elevator from a forward mounted engine (piston or turboprop), low speed control is reduced and low speed operation is more difficult for aircraft not designed for low speed operation.
A compromise is also possible, with the tailplane mounted part way up the fin rather than right at the top. The Sud Aviation Caravelle is an aircraft with this configuration (see cruciform tail).

There is no way this is for the need to inspect wires that they claim were only wire tied every 1 1/4" vs 1" (That excuse sounded hokey to begin with). Especially after they grounded all the planes once. If that was all the issue was you can be sure that the airline would have had them done and back up and making money after the last grounding. This grounding sounds less like a maintenance/FAA issue and more like a fuel problem.

Do you want to bet that every one of those flights canceled were less than half full?
Fuel prices being what they are, operators will find "problems" to let them cancel any flight until they get a plane full, no matter the suffering and inconvenience to travelers. And you know what? They are not breaking any law!

The airlines are intentionally disrupting travel to put pressure on the Feds to ease up on safety demands.

Just wait until they make these parts in China. Some of the composite material that cracks already is.

I was one of those unfortunate passegers on an American Airline fight to Costa Rica that had the same flight concelled twice in the same day.

I arrived on an American flight from Chicago at Miami International at 1:00 pm. March 31. My connecting American flight to Costa Rica was scheduled to leave at 8:00 pm. That flight was canecelled. Were told that another flight would leave for Costa Rica at 11:00 pm. That flight was also cancelled. American finally got another plane to fly us to Costa Rica. It didn't leave Miami until 2:00 am April 1. I had been waiting on March 31 at Miami International from 1:00 pm until 2:00 am on April 1 to fly to Costa Rica.

The airlines didn't even bother to feed its passengers who had been waiting nearly 13 hours to catch their flight. I'm disgusted with American. I pity those passengers who have to put up with all the delays and incoveniences of an airline that should have long ago inspected its planes.

Thats scary but its good that they do not ignore anything a delay is better than crashes!

i would be careful booking on delta flights that use MD-80's.

If they did this under FAA supervision just a few weeks ago, then what the heck was the FAA doing?

someone needs to get to work on fixing the airline and FAA situation. Its gone to h--- in a handbasket!

Okay, there is obviously something up that is not being mentioned. What is it? It is not inspections for wiring I am certain!