American Airlines safety alert

An e-mail battle is brewing between American cockpit pilots and management office pilots as to whether an American captain on a Dallas-Paris flight should have turned back to D/FW, or flown on as he actually did, after a 3x6 foot panel fell off the belly of his Boeing 767. Management says it was the best decision with available information.

Excuse me, but when you hear a noise and feel a vibration, shouldn’t you turn around?

Especially given the Federal Aviation Administration’s recent crackdown on safety inspections at American, with more due by the end of this month, this will have repercussions.