Air Transport

Three Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) aircraft remain out of service following an overnight maintenance mishap at the company’s Baton Rouge maintenance facility on 7 July.

Though the US FAA says the three aircraft -- two CRJ200s and one CRJ700 -- sustained “significant” damage as a result of the chain reaction, the mechanics involved received only minor “scrapes”, says ASA.

The incident unfurled around 2 a.m. central time when maintainers servicing N706EV, a CRJ700, were performing a compressor wash outside of the hangar. According to the FAA, the ASA mechanic was “dry motoring” the left engine “when it ignited and (the aircraft) jumped the chocks.” N706EV then hit the tail of N975EV, a CRJ200, which “caused the aircraft to change direction, head toward the ASA hangar and strike the left forward nose section on aircraft N916EV”, the second CRJ200.

The FAA says all three aircraft received “significant” damage, with some combination of wings, noses, tail cones, ailerons, rudders and nose landing gear affected. The FAA says ASA’s director of maintenance notified the agency shortly after the incident occurred.

An ASA spokeswoman says the “extremely rare” event did not impact passenger service and that both CRJ200s are repairable. She added that the airline and Bombardier “are determining the final status” of repairing the CRJ700. ASA did not give an estimate for the potential amount of damage.

“We performed an internal investigation in the days and weeks after (the incident),” she tells ATI. “As a result, we made adjustments to routine maintenance practices to make sure people and aircraft are safe.” The spokeswoman says the mechanic performing the test continues to work for the company.