Spirit Airlines ex-employee files suit on falsified maintenance records
Photo Credit: A lawsuit alleges Spirit Airlines filed false inspection records, but an FAA probe early in 2012 didn't find evidence of this. Pictured is a Spirit Jet at LaGuardia in 2008. Flickr.com / Phillip Capper
Skift Take
Disgruntled employee or a legitimate issue? An FAA probe in early 2012 couldn't find evidence that Spirit Airlines falsified maintenance records. We'll see.
A former senior aircraft mechanic for Atlantic City International Airport's only carrier, Spirit Airlines, claims the airline regularly falsified inspection records and performed subpar maintenance on its aircraft, according to a lawsuit filed last month in state Superior Court.
Richard Torrecq, of the Manahawkin section of Stafford Township, and eight other mechanics sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration in 2011 alleging that Spirit Airlines was servicing planes with improper or contaminated fluids and was not providing mechanics with proper tools to service the planes.
Within five months, six or seven of those mechanics, including Torre, were fired, the lawsuit states. None of the other mechanics is named in legal documents filed at the Atlantic County Courthouse.
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