The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "airline safety" ...
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HBO Real Sports: Hockey's Darkest Day
In 2011 a plane carrying a Russian hockey team crashed shortly after takeoff--the deadliest accident in the history of professional sports. A five-month Real Sports investigation uncovered massive safety problems in the Russian hockey league. The league spent millions on player salaries but "a few bucks" on everything else--including travel. The plane that crashed was operated by a cheap, third-rate company that had been banned from flying to Europe because they had been cited so many times for major safety violations. The crew of the plane hadn't even completed their training. Our investigation showed that the lack of safety in the world’s second best hockey league—called the KHL—often extends to the ice where KHL team doctors use IV’s and drugs to get their players to perform better on the ice. One young star died after receiving an injection of banned drugs from team doctors. When it came to travel, the lack of safe conditions was nearly universal. Practically every team flew on a Soviet-era jet—jets that make up 3% of the world’s fleet but account for 42% of the world’s accidents. These jets are in such poor condition that most Russian airlines wont use them. Yet even after the crash the KHL continued to use these planes, a fact they initially denied. Shortly after we interviewed the KHL Vice President, the league changed its rules. Now teams fly strictly on modern equipment.
Tags: Russia; Russian hockey team; plane crash; the KHL;
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Flying Cheap
The February 2009 crash of Continental Flight 3407 revealed "a little-known trend in the airline industry: major airlines have outsourced more and more of their flights to obscure regional carriers." These smaller carriers operate with different safety practices with pilots that are often paid less, with less training and fewer flight hours.
Tags: airlines; aviation safety; Federal Aviation Administration; flight safety; transportation
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Air Security - Why You're Not as Safe as You Think
"Eight years after the terrorist attacks of 2001, there are critical gaps in the nation's aviation security system, a Consumer Reports investigation found."
Tags: airline safety; screening; terrorist; attacks; security; TSA; Transportation Security Administration;
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CR Investigates an Accident Waiting to Happen
This report found that more airlines than ever are outsourcing their major maintenance work, often to overseas facilities. This trend has several implications. The outsourcing and contracting means that workers are not screened as carefully as they were when airlines did their own maintenance. Also, flight data shows that airlines that outsource services tend to have more delays.
Tags: transportation; air travel; airports; delays; air safety
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Air Cargo Security
Though it has been five years since air safety went through a reform in the wake of 9/11, the screening process of cargo loaded onto airplanes is lax, keeping passengers in danger. Screening of passengers has improved, but the cargo has been a safety afterthought. They rely on a "known" or "trusted" shipper program, which means you must "be a known shipper to send cargo on a passenger plane." This leads to security lapses as reported by CBS News.
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Trouble on the Tarmac
The authors investigated an increase in problems at Sea-Tac International Airport when Alaska Airlines fired their baggage handlers and hired an outside firm, Menzies Aviation. to do the ramp work. Issues that arose in the report were ones of safety, training and security.
Tags: Baggage handling; ramp work; Alaska Airlines; Sea-Tac International Airport; Menzies Aviation
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Project security: Danger in the air
This WISH investigation reveals the threat presented by unscreened cargo aboard passenger planes, three years after Congress passed a law requiring the screening of such cargo. The report noted that none of the Transportation Security Administration's $85 million air cargo security budget is being used to screen cargo on passenger planes and that the government puts commerce ahead of safety. The TV station mailed its own bomb-related package across the nation to prove the security threat.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; TSA; Transportation Security Administration; air cargo; airline safety; known shipper program; Department of Homeland Security
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Cockpit Security
According to this report, French airline company, Air Tahiti Nui leaves the door to the cockpit open on international flights even the ones coming into the United States. Aviation regulations require that the door remain closed from take-off to touch-down. When this station contacted the Federal Aviation Administration, they were told that foreign carriers could not be regulated with the same rules.
Tags: French airline; Air Tahiti Nui; 9/11; cockpit safety; cockpit; pilots; Federal Aviation Administration
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Wear and tear: Jet problems reported by airlines vary widely
This Times' investigation revealed gaps in federal records meant to track mechanical problems on U.S. jetliners. In examining FAA Service Difficulty Reports from January 1987 to January 1989, the newspaper uncovered how airlines failed to provide key information in the reports. Of the more than 2,400 reports filed, 1,700 failed to include the name of the airline submitting the report. In one case, the tail number N2FOR was used to identify four different airplane models made by three manufacturers and operated by six airlines.
Tags: FAA; Federal Aviation Administration; airplanes; airlines; airline safety; Service Difficulty Reports
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Cost Cutting Costs Airlines Safety
The report investigated shoddy maintenance on a major U.S. air carrier as a result of cost cutting. CBS News was able to find internal documents and talk to whistle blower mechanics proving that United Airlines failed to do the required maintenance of its fleet and failed to use licensed mechanics as required by the FAA. Examples in this report include: secretaries signing work papers that needed certified mechanic's signatures; failed equipment shined up and reinstalled in planes without being repaired; and letters pressuring mechanics to ignore safety problems.
Tags: TAPE; cost cutting; airline; United Airlines; FAA; NTSB; mechanic; Transportation Department; whistle blower; airline safety; airplane; plane; airline maintenance; circuit breakers; secretary; safety problems; inspection; repair station; outsourcing