News 8 Investigates

Byron Harris reports

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Since 9/11, the United States spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year, physically checking the passengers who board airliners.

But some are questioning the resources devoted to checking the mechanics that repair airplanes.

In recent years, the number of foreign mechanics being brought into the U.S. to repair airliners has ballooned. But the procedures used to check their backgrounds are meager or non-existent, and can be left to the companies who benefit by bringing them here.

A WFAA-TV investigation finds that San Antonio Aerospace (SAA) imported 767 foreign mechanics into its sprawling facility at San Antonio International Airport over the last two years, according to security badge data obtained under the Texas Public Information Act. Since SAA is located on airport grounds, mechanics who work there must obtain security badges from the San Antonio International Airport.

The foreign mechanics came primarily from Mexico and the Philippines, but also from 43 other countries, including Vietnam, Ethiopia, Nicaragua, Cuba, Jordan, China and Sudan.

Reacting to this information, U.S. Rep. Ted Poe, R-Houston, told WFAA-TV: “The next attack on our country is not going to be because somebody is riding in an airplane. That problem is going to occur because somebody has access to an airport, as an employee, or an alleged employee, either working at the airport or working on aircraft. And if they have that access, that is the way that attack is going to happen.”

San Antonio International Airport officials failed to divulge the degree of access the SAA workers have to the airport as a whole but there is little question they have access to the aircraft being repaired at San Antonio Aerospace, which currently include airplanes from Delta Airlines and UPS.

The foreign workers obtain legal visas to work at SAA. That process includes a criminal background check by the U.S. State Department in their home countries.

But Phil Jordan, formerly chief of the Drug Enforcement Administration Dallas office, questions the quality of criminal background checks in nations such as Cuba, China, Egypt, Sudan, Venezuela, and most of the other home countries of the mechanics. Criminal record keeping in much of the world, Jordan says, is “nonexistent.” Moreover, he says, some of the home countries of the mechanics do not have diplomatic relations with the U.S.

“There’s got to be some kind of records, but I doubt they would be anything near the capabilities we have in the United States,” he says. “It’s very difficult to get criminal background checks in those countries. In many, it’s just a joke.”

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) does a terrorist threat assessment on all applicants for airport security badges. Much of the rest of the process is left to the discretion of local airports, says TSA spokeswoman, Andrea McCauley.

A copy of the application provided to WFAA-TV by the airport, would likely suffice for American workers. It informs applicants that state, federal or local criminal background checks may be conducted on them. But again, in many foreign countries, those checks are difficult or impossible.

Although applicants must certify the validity of their application, they are not required to speak English. The airport says “the possibility exists“ that SAA supervisors could even fill out the security badge forms for non-English speaking workers. The applicant simply has to sign it.

Aircraft repair manuals are written in English, the international language of aviation. “Every applicant, whether foreign or a U.S. citizen, is assessed for proficiency in the English language,” according to company attorney, Ben Bingham.

San Antonio Aerospace officials say the company has been forced to hire foreign mechanics because it can’t find U.S. mechanics to do the work. Chye Kiat Ang, president of SAA’s parent company VT Aerospace, says the problem was especially bad two years ago. “We had many sleepless nights waiting for resumes to show up,” he says. So there weren’t any at the time. So we had to go out and look for mechanics, qualified mechanics.”

Many experts on aircraft repair disagree, including John Goglia, the only mechanic ever to serve on the National Transportation Safety Board. Goglia says there are 320,000 licensed aircraft mechanics in the U.S., only a fraction of them now work as mechanics.

WFAA-TV has reported that SAA actively recruited foreign mechanics. Immigration attorneys say company legal assistance often is required for most foreigners to obtain visas.

Airport data indicates about a third of SAA’s current employees, 328, are foreigners. That’s down from a peak of 767 two years ago.

Current airport records show 185 workers from Mexico have security badges, with 73 badged workers from the Philippines, and the remainder from 25 other countries.

U.S. Rep. Poe says the nation needs to be looking more closely at who these people are. “We are ignoring the obvious when it comes to airline safety," Poe said.

E-mail bharris@wfaa.com.