Just Plane Dangerous?

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Bowles chose to have repairs done at Evergreen in part because the 747 he bought was already stored there and needed work before it could fly. A conflict quickly emerged. Leigh Abbott, AFX's representative at Evergreen, says he was not allowed to veto work, change a work order or challenge the time and parts charges--standard industry practices. "It was unlike any facility I've ever been in," says Abbott, a former line mechanic. "I could see that work had not been done when Evergreen claimed it was. When I challenged them, it was as if I was wrong on every point."

To his amazement, Abbott says, he discovered that Evergreen had drilled a hole in the wrong place in a flap track on the left wing, creating a serious flight-safety risk by weakening the entire track. (The flap track supports one of the four flaps on the plane, a critical flight surface.) In another case, also described in the lawsuit, Evergreen was instructed to inspect and lubricate the flap carriage on the wing. (Lubrication is an essential flight-safety issue: failure to lubricate an internal part properly is thought to be the leading cause of the Alaska Airlines crash.) On Dec. 15, Evergreen told AFX that both tasks had been done. Then in January, Abbott discovered not only that the flap carriage had not been lubricated but also that part of the carriage had in fact broken off. If AFX had flown the plane in such a condition, it could have damaged the airframe or at worst caused the pilot to lose control of the plane, AFX contends.

Whatever the outcome of the suit, the number of jets in service each year just keeps increasing. The margin of safety needs to be maintained or the risk of fatal errors may go up. Filling out the cards correctly will be more important than ever.

TIME.com Go to time.com/donnelly to read Sally Donnelly's weekly column on the airline industry