Flight Safety Foundation
Cecil A. Brownlow Publication Award

presented to

Ames Alexander
Elizabeth Leland
Ted Mellnik
Ted Reed
The Charlotte Observer

Ames Alexander

Elizabeth Leland

Ted Mellnik

Tim Reed

For a series of newspaper articles investigating the airline maintenance industry following a fatal regional aircraft accident in Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S., in which the primary cause was found to be maintenance error.

Going beyond that single accident, Ames Alexander, Elizabeth Leland, Ted Mellnik and Ted Reed — staff writers for The Charlotte Observer — investigated during several months the state of the U.S. airline maintenance industry. Collectively, the writers conducted hundreds of interviews of maintenance technicians and maintenance specialists, analyzed data, and examined thousands of pages of records. Their published articles looked not only at specific maintenance-related accidents, but also at trends in maintenance, especially at commuter airlines.

Their findings, presented in a four-part special report, “Are Planes We Fly More at Risk?” in The Charlotte Observer, raised important issues. The writers reported that some maintenance personnel believed that cost-cutting was hampering their work and that low wages and reduced benefits were causing skilled workers to leave the field, possibly leading to a shortage of qualified technicians. They described a widespread pattern of outsourcing, which some observers believe places maintenance in the hands of technicians who are not as well trained and experienced as those working directly for airlines.

While detailing serious concerns, the articles were accurate, balanced and devoid of sensationalism. The authors reported on airlines’ efforts to improve oversight of contractors and on an academic study that found no evidence that a repair station’s employees made more errors than another group performing in-house maintenance. The series culminated in specific recommendations based on the writers’ research, such as human factors training, better written instructions and shorter work shifts for maintenance technicians.

Flight Safety Foundation and IHS Aviation Information, the award’s corporate sponsor, are pleased to recognize Ames Alexander, Elizabeth Leland, Ted Mellnik and Ted Reed for their significant contribution to aviation safety awareness.

FSF 57th annual International Air Safety Seminar
Shanghai, China
November 16, 2004

Stuart Matthews
President and CEO
Flight Safety Foundation

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