US airline chaos: thousands of flights canceled for inspections

In the past two weeks alone, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines abruptly grounded hundreds of planes and canceled flights for unscheduled inspections, and US Airways announced problems with some of its fleet after a wing part fell off one plane mid-flight.

The cancellations were in response to a directive from the Federal Aviation Administration requiring carriers to verify their compliance with airworthiness standards. This directive, along with several others the FAA issued in March, was part of an effort by the agency to appear more stringent in its safety enforcement after coming under congressional investigation for lax oversight.

Last week a number of FAA inspectors testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure committee on corruption and connivance between the agency and Southwest Airlines, which evaded years worth of critical inspections on dozens of planes without penalties. Agency whistle-blowers reported suppression of warnings, orders to destroy inspection documentation, harassment by FAA and Southwest officials, and threats of job loss and death for reporting violations.