Jetsgo riddled with problems

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Discount airline investigated before its collapse
Safety, staffing `deficiencies' triggered probe

ROBERT CRIBB
STAFF REPORTER

The defunct Jetsgo airline was riddled with problems before its collapse earlier this year, ranging from insufficient staffing and unreported safety incidents to outdated manuals and a "significantly challenged" dispatch system, say newly released federal documents.

The discount airline, which shut down operations in March, was already facing a Transport Canada investigation for a host of "deficiencies" that triggered "strong concern" within the federal regulator, says an investigation report obtained by the Toronto Star through access to information legislation.

On March 8, Transport Canada officials outlined those concerns in a letter to former Jetsgo president Michel Leblanc, who could not be reached for comment yesterday.

"Jetsgo Corporation is hereby notified of the intent to suspend its Air Operator Certificate if an acceptable corrective action plan is not submitted to the Minister and approved," says the letter.

Three days later — at two minutes after midnight on March 11 — the company issued a news release announcing its shutdown, stranding 17,000 passengers across North America on a heavily travelled March Break weekend. The company filed for bankruptcy protection later the same day.

The federal government's investigation into Jetsgo actually dates back to February, the documents show. An ill-fated flight from Toronto to Calgary on Jan. 20 raised concerns among officials.

As flight JG0191 landed in Calgary, the aircraft left the runway and "travelled for approximately 1,800 feet beside the runway before becoming airborne," a Transportation Safety Board incident report says.

"The aircraft struck a runway hold sign ... resulting in some damage to the flaps and landing gear."

When officials inspected the airline over a period of eight days in February, they documented "strong concern with the adequacy of the organizational structure of the flight operations department," says the inspection report.

Those concerns included staffing issues in the airline's dispatch system.

"It is evident that the manning levels of the dispatch are inadequate during irregular operations," the report says. "During periods of high workload (for example, a winter storm) there are minimal if any flight watch activities being carried out."

The report noted that during a winter storm on Feb. 21, "basically all flights (were) behind schedule/or operating with a revised schedule (revealing) that the dispatch system is significantly challenged."

Some company manuals, according to the inspection report, were "either out of date, present incorrect information or are missing regulatory information requirements."

The inspection report also raises concerns that mandatory reporting of flight incidents was not being done by Jetsgo pilots.

"A review of incidents and a subsequent discussion with the Jetsgo flight safety officer confirmed that a number of mandatory reportable incidents occurred during a sample period (November/December 2004) with no record ... having been completed," says the report.

In 2002, Jetsgo had five incidents serious enough to be reported to TSB officials. That figure rose to 15 a year later and grew to 32 in 2004. The airline had seven such incidents before its collapse last March.

Those incident reports range from smoke in the aircraft cabins, flames coming from one plane's engine, planes flying too close to other aircraft and mechanical problems, some of which were recurring.

For example, one Jetsgo plane is listed in incident reports as having been involved in eight different incidents since September 2002. The aircraft was repeatedly repaired and returned to service, only to face further problems.

In a January, 2004 incident in Edmonton, "acrid blue smoke" entered the cockpit and cabin of a Jetsgo DC-9-83, says an incident report. "Passengers were rapidly deplaned" and the problem was later traced to a hydraulic oil leak.

The very next day, a flight attendant on the same plane out of Calgary "advised the captain that smoke and fumes were entering the cabin" at 1,200 metres, an incident report shows.

"The cockpit door was opened momentarily in order to assess the situation and the decision was made to return to Calgary."

Transport Canada gave Jetsgo an April 11 deadline for submitting a "corrective action plan." The company did file the plan, but it did not address the regulator's concerns, says spokesperson Lucie Vignola.

"It did not meet our requirements," she said yesterday.

"We continued to have concerns."

Jetsgo declared bankruptcy in May and never resumed operations.

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