Allegiant Airlines pilots concerned about plane safety (with video)

SANFORD, Fla. —Allegiant Airlines pilots claim the airline is cutting corners on safety after mechanical problems forced a flight to make an emergency landing in St. Petersburg on Wednesday.

Pilots from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union sent a letter to shareholders, claiming the airline is ignoring Federal Aviation Administration recommendations on important safety programs.

Citing a report by the Aviation Mechanics Coalition, an airline mechanics union, pilots claim between January and March of this year, there were 38 instances of mechanical issues with Allegiant. Issues include failing engines, pressurization problems, smoke in the cockpit, inoperable radar systems and failing windshield anti-ice devices.

The pilots are in the middle of contract negotiations with the airline, but they claim their safety complaints are not related to the negotiations.

“The pilots are very concerned,” union representative Chris Moore said. “They relayed to me that they're never sure what kind of aircraft they're going to get or what's going to break.”

The report found pilots were "forced to fly aircraft that barely passes acceptable safety standards,” and it found 55 percent of mechanics have less than four years’ experience in the field.

“In our opinion, there are just a disproportionate number of air returns and gate returns for such a small fleet of aircraft,” said Moore.

Pressurization problems forced the flight to make an emergency return landing in St. Pete this week.

Last week, passengers leapt onto evacuation slides after smoke filled the cabin.

In October, a landing gear issue forced a flight to return to Sanford, and in September a flight to Michigan was forced to make an emergency landing due to a cabin pressure problem.

Last year, Allegiant flew more than 5,400 flights.

Statement from Allegiant:

Allegiant is in ongoing negotiations with our pilots, who are represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The report issued by the TAMC was commissioned by the Teamsters and was not conducted by Allegiant mechanics, who are not represented by the union. In our view this is just another tactic employed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters in an effort to manipulate the public by raising unfounded concerns about the safety of our operations. Allegiant’s safety record is among the best in the aviation industry. In fact, as a result of the threatened strike by the Teamsters, Allegiant recently completed a period of heightened surveillance by FAA. Throughout this process, the FAA did not find any safety issues with our operations

Allegiant is fortunate that our unique network allows for our aircraft to be inspected and serviced by our mechanics every night. In addition to the routine maintenance and service on individual aircraft, Allegiant has two separate programs in place – an analysis and surveillance program and a reliability program – to continually monitor and share data with the FAA regarding the overall health of the fleet. Neither Allegiant nor the FAA have identified abnormal trends.

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