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Nov 19, 2007 9:10 pm US/Mountain
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CBS4 Investigates Deicing Deficiencies
Contact reporter Brian Maass at bmaass@cbs.com
CBS4 Unedited Servisair Classroom Undercover Video: Clip 1 | Clip 2 | Clip 3 |
DENVER (CBS4) ―
Heading into the busiest travel season of the year, the largest deicing contractor at Denver International Airport admits it has been cheating and cutting corners while training the workers who make airplanes safe to fly in winter.
Servisair deices airplanes for 22 airlines at DIA, making sure the aircraft are cleared for takeoff.
But a three-month CBS4 investigation found that applicants for Servisair's 500 deicing jobs for this winter were fed answers to 14 written tests from various airlines, allowing each job applicant to pass with flying colors and become a deicer, no matter how little they really understood about deicing airplanes.
"I can't think of any scenario where we should be giving answers to a test," said Larry Alfs, Servisair's director of deicing operations after he and other Servisair executives viewed CBS4's undercover videotape of one of the company's classes in October.
The tape, shot by a CBS4 undercover producer, showed Servisair trainers handing out a series of exams -- some multiple choice, some true or false and some essay questions. It also showed the trainers revealing the answers for each and every test.
Airlines require deicers to pass the tests before they are allowed to deice planes.
"There's no excuse for just giving the answers," Servisair vice president Dino Noto said. "The training here was clearly improper, clearly improper. That's not acceptable. We don't want to create a paper trail, we want them to be fully trained."
Servisair has the contract for deicing operations at 11 other U.S. airports as well as conducting deicing at airports in Europe and Canada.
Proper deicing of airplanes is critical for wintertime flying. A 2005 review by the Federal Aviation Administration said deicing programs "are critical to aviation safety, and the consequences of a program failure can be catastrophic."
Improper or inadequate deicing has been listed as a contributing factor to some major air crashes. In November, 1987, Continental Airlines Flight 1713 crashed as it was taking off from Denver, killing 28. Inadequate deicing was a contributing factor. On Jan. 13, 1982, an Air Florida flight crashed into the Potomac River as it was taking off in Washington, killing 78. Inadequate deicing was one of the causes.
The FAA is following up on the CBS4 investigation, combing through Servisair's tests and records in Denver.
After learning what the CBS4 investigation uncovered, Servisair called its 500 deicers back for retraining and retesting, this time with the FAA and airline representatives monitoring the process to make sure nobody was spoon-fed answers.
"It won't happen again," promised Noto.
"We're committed to safety," added Alfs. "We want to make sure our customers' airplanes get off the ground."
While he acknowledged that he saw "cheating" on the tape, he called it "an isolated incident of an employee who administered 14 tests and took liberties he should not have."
But CBS4 spoke with a deicer who had been through similar Servisair classes and testing a month earlier. He spoke on the condition his identity not be revealed. He said his classroom training and testing was identical to what the CBS4 videotape revealed.
"You really couldn't fail," he said. "I was quite appalled, personally. I couldn't believe it, I just couldn't believe it. I told myself I would never allow my family to travel during the wintertime because of the way this company was just allowing everyone to pass 100% and not giving them the instruction necessary to pass this test."
Both he and the CBS4 producer found that for many tests, the instructor handed out answer sheets and told the applicants which answers to circle. They had no idea which airline's test they were taking, or even what questions they were answering. They scored 100% on almost every test.
During the afternoon class taped by CBS4, the instructor is seen telling prospective deicers why they are being given the answers.
"The reason why we're doing it this way is because deicing 101: all of them are almost exactly the same. We've gone over a lot of the differences through the class, so I hope you understand that. If not, you'll be here till about 9 o'clock." He then continues providing answers.
Algy Giles, a deicing inspector for the FAA from 1996 until he retired last year, said he was not surprised by what CBS4 found. He said the aviation industry is under intense financial pressure.
"The cutting of corners is what this is called," he said. "The fault has to be shared by the lack of FAA oversight and the operators willing to cut corners in any place they can."
Airlines are also unhappy with CBS4's findings. Chris Mclaughlin, operations manager for Frontier Airlines, one of the airlines that uses Servisair for deicing at DIA, said Frontier is frustrated, disappointed and surprised, since Servisair in the past had been reliable and safety-conscious.
"To see a training that doesn't meet our standards is of great concern to us," he said. "Just receiving the answers doesn't demonstrate you've actually grabbed the material. The pictures you've shown today obviously indicate there's a definite liability in their training program."
Asked if it appeared Servisair was attempting to deceive airlines with the predetermined test outcomes, Mclaughlin said, "I agree with that."
Frontier Airlines immediately contacted Servisair and alerted the FAA after seeing the CBS4 footage.
Servisair informed CBS4 on Monday morning it had fired the instructor seen in the undercover video.
CBS4 Classroom Undercover VideoSee CBS4's unedited undercover video from inside the Servisair classroom in the four following video clips:
- Part I This was a typical test. (video run time: 3:15)
- Part II Another test (video run time: 7:19)
- Part III This is the Continental Airlines test. Instructors told applicants they had to intentionally get at least one answer wrong in this video. (video run time: 2:54)
- Part IV This is the trainer telling applicants how to fill out a summary form. (video run time: 1:42)
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