Tulsa American Airlines Mechanics Fixing Hail-Damaged Aircraft In Dallas

Fifty-seven American Airlines' aircraft remain out of service Thursday, two days after a weather system, which spun off several tornadoes and damaging hail in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

The airline continues to cancel flights as work continues to inspect and repair airplanes battered by hail at DFW airport.

It's been a whirlwind week for American Airlines after tornadoes and huge hail pounded Texas. The damage to planes was pretty bad.

"You can imagine what that does to a piece of aluminum when it hits," said Rick Mullings with TWU Local 514.

The storm originally took 108 aircraft out of service. So, American sent 50 mechanics and engineers from Tulsa's maintenance base to DFW International Airport to help out. Now, less than 60 aircraft remain out of service.

"American Airlines owns a machine that pulls those dents out of the aircraft, but of course the aircraft mechanics have to inspect every dent," Mullings said.

If something needs to be replaced, the plane is repaired and inspected again. The process takes several hours, but the local chapter of the Transport Workers Union says it's nothing new.

"A few years ago, there was over 100 aircraft damaged in Texas and they got them back in the air in a few days," Mullings said.

Rick Mullings says this is one of the things the union has pointed out to American during negotiations to get the airline out of bankruptcy. American's parent company, AMR, wants to reduce the Tulsa workforce by 2100.

"It would really be hard to pull off this same job with a couple of thousand less people. In fact, I don't think they would be able to. They would have a lot more time on the ground," Mullings said.

The Tulsa mechanics and engineers have been in Dallas since Tuesday.

"That's an aircraft mechanic. When you put that work in front of him, he's going to do it and he's going to do it right. It's a matter of pride," Mullings said.

They'll stay until the job is done.

An American spokesperson says it's not a fair comparison to use a hail storm to justify why a workforce shouldn't be reduced in bankruptcy negotiations.

She also says it could take a few more days for schedules to return to normal at DFW.