http://www.aero-news.net/news/genav.cfm?ContentBlockID=ae0f320a-39c0-4684-99d4-503a300a5a00&Dynamic=1 

By Jim Campbell
Editor-In-Chief
ANN/Aero-TV
August 20, 2008

The great TSA-ORD Inspector scandal seems to be but the tip of the 
proverbial iceberg... and the theme song from the Titanic is playing in 
the background. ANN has learned that the Inspector that instigated the 
inspections of nine American Eagle ERJs and created innumerable delays 
and hassle for the flying public has reportedly DONE THIS BEFORE.

As ANN reported earlier this week, the Clouseau-esque inspector damaged 
the Total Air Temperature (TAT) probes while the planes were parked on 
the tarmac at O'Hare Tuesday morning. The probes are an important part 
of an airliner's flight information system, as they provide real-time 
temperature information to the planes' EFIS displays and computers... 
giving flight crews precise information about the aircraft's altitude, 
and warning of potential icing conditions inflight.

Fortunately, maintenance crews discovered the damaged TAT probes before 
any of the planes took off on commercial passenger flights... though the 
need to fix the aircraft did lead to over 40 flight delays for American 
Eagle passengers.

A flight crew member who has been in contact with ANN previously, with 
solid credible info on this and other matters, reports the following, 
"This was not the first time that this same TSA agent had done this. 
After one of our ORD mechanics caught him doing this he explained that 
he could damage the TAT sensor. The agent then admitted that he used the 
sensors many times in the past doing the same thing. The AMR 
spokesperson states that no TAT sensors were damaged, but she was 
speaking about the particular aircraft inspected on the 19th. There were 
no damage found on the morning of the 19th, but another aircraft did 
have a damaged #1 TAT sensor that was discovered on the morning of the 
16th at ORD that the mechanics suspect was caused by the same agent."

[...]


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