>> tonight, two stories in this special edition of frontline. first... >> when it first happened to me, i was five. >> they kept it quiet for decades. >> he shut the door, locked it. >> the odds of being abused as a little catholic boy or a little catholic girl in that diocese was higher than any other place in the united states. >> correspondent mark trahant examines a little known chapter in the catholic church sex abuse story. >> he told us that, if we told anybody, they wouldn't believe us because he works for god. and he was right; nobody would believe us. >> if jesus were to come to the

village, i have no doubt in my mind that he would be crying. >> in our second story tonight... >> so, these were parts that are illegal. >> that would be the easy way to say it, an "illegal part." >> miles o'brien and american university's investigative reporting workshop uncover disturbing new trends in the airline industry. >> it's going to be at the expense of a smoking hole at the end of the runway. >> these two stories and more on this special edition of frontline. >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world.

and by reva & david logan. committed to investigative journalism as the guardian of the public interest. additional funding is provided by the park foundation. dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund. additional funding for frontline's expanded broadcast season is provided by the bill and melinda gates foundation. >> trahant: this is a story that's been shrouded in secrecy for years. it takes place in an isolated part of alaska 200 miles south

of the arctic circle. the village is called st. michael, and it's home to some 360 alaska native people. as a journalist, and as a member of the shoshone-bannock tribes, i've been writing about native americans my whole career, but little could prepare me for what happened in st. michael. many here still remember how innocently it all began. >> growing up, there's so many good memories.m9k the thing i enjoyed the most was the community gathering, the community being together as one and having fun. it was good to see people happy. >> my grandpa taught me how to hunt and fish. i used to love to go out with him, go fishing, hunting and

trapping. >> my earliest memories was people were very devoted catholics. we went to catechism right out of school. we'd run straight across to the church where... right next to the catholic church from the old school. >> trahant: the church in st. michael was built in the early decades of the 20th century as missionaries helped spread catholicism across native alaska. >> before the white man came, the eskimos believed that everything had a spirit. we respected everybody, and we knew that there was somebody up there taking care of us. now, almost everybody here is catholic. >> trahant: to run the parish in st. michael, the church sent father george endal. one of the state's pioneer priests, endal moved from church to church throughout alaska before landing in st. michael in 1968. he brought with him a church volunteer named joseph

lundowski, who he'd given a job to years earlier. >> we don't know a lot about him. he's somewhat of a mystery. endal brought him in as a... sort of a novice master at the school. he was, we were told, placed in charge of the boys' dormitory. >> trahant: in st. michael, lundowski would train to become a deacon, but the people here looked up to him as a priest all along. >> he had a really nice singing voice. his voice was very nice at saying prayers. at the time, i did work as a altar boy, too, with him. i always wanted to be a deacon as a kid. >> in the beginning, yeah, i wanted to go to catechism. it was fun, until weird things started happening. >> after mass, the parents would start leaving, going home, and lundowski would pull out checkers or chess or card games.

>> he'd offer us money or drinks or candy or something we want, you know. they'd do anything to get us at the church. >> i was age 12 when he asked me to go in the bedroom with him. i was asking him what for, and he said i would find out, so i follow him in. i was kind of afraid, though, because when he shut the door and he locked it, and he pulled my pants down and he takes his false teeth out, put them on the dresser. >> i was just a kid, didn't know nothing. father endal and joseph lundowski, they couldn't stop molesting me when they started. it was almost an everyday thing. father endal was telling me that it would make me closer to god. >> father endal and joe

lundowski moved through a series of alaska villages, always in very remote parts of the state, always with no one there to supervise them except themselves. they were a law unto themselves, and they did whatever they wished. >> trahant: there would be other abusers associated with the church in st. michael. one seemed to favor exposing himself to girls. >> when it first happened to me, i was five. i can remember the day putting my head down when i saw him come out with no clothes, and i was scared. the next thing i remember, somebody was touching me on my arm. he would ask if we wanted to touch his private area, and he would say he would give us candy or give us a good prize.

>> this was 1970. it was absolutely unthinkable that the catholic church could be involved in the sexual abuse of children. there was nowhere for the kids to hide, there was no one they could talk to. the adults believed the abusers over their own children. it was a perfect storm for molestation. >> he told us that, if we told anybody, they wouldn't believe us because he worked for a church, he works for god. and he was right; nobody would believe us. >> i told my dad what happened in the church. i told him that a guy touched me in my mouth and in my bottom. i remember my dad grabbing his

belt, and he hung me upside down and he beat me, told me never to blame priests like that. my dad went out. he came back pretty drunk, and i saw him holding a pistol in his hand. he looked at my mom and pointed the gun at her. the gun went off, and my brother was in front. bullet pierced both of them. i held him in my arm. my brother didn't have to die just because i told my dad the truth. >> trahant: the abuse in st. michael would continue for five more years as ben and the others suffered almost daily molestation.

then, one day, in the summer of 1975, joseph lundowski would finally be caught in the act. >> my cousin martha came, and she saw what joseph was doing. and she screamed, and she said, "oh, ben, i'm going to go tell, i'm going to go tell." he went after her and tried to give her money or candy, just to stop her from talking. she said, "no, leave me alone." and then, she went running out. >> trahant: as word spread, pressure mounted on father endal to act. >> the police were not called. even when there was an eyewitness to the abuse, the authorities were not called. the church handled it internally. lundowski was transported out of the town and left the state and, as far as we know, never returned. >> trahant: but father endal stayed. through it all, he remained revered and above suspicion,

although, for eight more years, he would continue to molest the boys and girls of st. michael. under father endal's watch, nearly 80% of the town's children-- literally, an entire generation-- were molested. >> the odds of being abused as a little catholic boy or little catholic girl in that diocese was staggeringly high, higher than any other place in the united states that has ever been investigated to date. >> there's a lot of people that will not acknowledge this pain. the hurts and the suffering here, you could tell in their eyes. they're trying to run away from it, but they... it's always there.

>> trahant: ultimately, several dozen priests and church workers would be named as abusers, not just in st. michael, but in alaska native villages across the state. few were as widely known at the time as father james poole. the host of a popular catholic radio program, poole was once profiled by people magazine as one of alaska's hippest djs. but decades later, he would be named as an abuser by almost 20 different girls and women. the first to step forward was elsie boudreau. >> father poole would have me sit on his lap, straddling his legs, and we would french kiss for hours. he would tell me that he was my friend, and that he was my brother, my father, and my lover. >> trahant: boudreau said the abuse lasted for almost ten years and, on one occasion, she

said, poole raped her. finally, she moved away and made a new life for herself in anchorage. >> are you going to watch the game? did he have it recorded? >> trahant: she married and started a family. but then, she said, the memories of the abuse became inescapable. >> when my daughter turned ten, the age that i was when the abuse began, it was really hard to shield the fact that i was sexually abused. it was, like, flooding my consciousness. >> trahant: boudreau turned to the catholic church for answers, but couldn't get anyone to talk to her. finally, she got the attention of the new bishop, donald kettler, who'd just come from south dakota to lead the fairbanks diocese. >> i met bishop kettler. i identified that i was a sexual abuse victim of father poole's,

and i just laid it all out and talked about how hurtful it had been to have come forward and to not get a response from anyone from the church-- to not be acknowledged, not be validated, not be comforted, nothing. he didn't get it. >> trahant: the catholic church abuse story was breaking around the country in 2002, and boudreau decided to call a lawyer. ken roosa was a former anchorage prosecutor who'd just begun to investigate abuse claims across alaska. >> each time, as we identified a new molester, it would open up a new group of victims, because no victim wanted to be the first one to say something about a priest until they found out somebody else had made a complaint against their perpetrator. and then, they would go, "wow, i'm not the only one."

>> my name is elsie boudreau. my yupik name is abucan. >> trahant: boudreau filed suit against the church, and then she decided to go public. >> we ask that the church stop hindering the criminal and civil prosecution of men who have abused our children, and the people who have covered up the crimes. >> trahant: as the story unfolded, dozens more victims came forward. this time, attorney roosa filed a class action focused mostly on the abuse of joseph lundowski in st. michael. >> it's pretty clear from the evidence that lundowski molested every male child he could get his hands on. he lived and breathed every moment of every day to molest boys. >> trahant: the public spotlight now fell on bishop donald kettler, who was forced to

respond to claims about lundowski on the local news. >> i was completely surprised. i did not know anything about this or... i didn't know who this gentleman was. all i can tell you, all that i know, is that he was listed as a... as a volunteer in some of... >> trahant: the bishop first denied any church responsibility for lundowski. then, he said the church had no knowledge of his abuse. >> there's nothing that we have found that would indicate that lundowski sexually abused any children. nothing that we've found. >> trahant: but ken roosa turned up new information from the church's own files. >> we looked at documents to prove to the church that joe worked for them and extracted all the evidence, and then gave it back to them and said, "now tell me joe lundowski didn't work for you."

>> trahant: in the end, the evidence proved undeniable. the claims against joseph lundowski alone would grow to 112 victims. 26 more would come forward against father endal, and another 18 people would ultimately name father jim poole. a number of these women claimed poole raped them, although in a deposition with victims' attorneys, father poole would say that he never raped anyone. by 2008, the church faced hundreds of claims and began talking about settling out of court. but little of this healed things for the victims in st. michael. for years, packy struggled with alcohol and drugs, and his own acts of domestic abuse led to three of his children being taken away by the state. ben also has a history of domestic violence, sometimes

landing him in jail, and he hasn't held a job in years. alberta's never managed to talk about what happened. even though the abuse ran deep through her family, it became a taboo subject. and it's the difficulty of breaking this silence that's bringing one of her fellow survivors to st. michael. elsie boudreau is now trying to get people here talking. >> how are you? good to see you. my hope is that... as yupik people, that we can move beyond the shame and the guilt, and have the strength of our ancestors to be able to sit in a circle with other survivors and to say, "these things happened to me, and what are we going to do about it?" >> trahant: boudreau arranged the first meeting of the st. michael victims. >> i'm honored to be here in st. michael among all of you, and i

know, as survivors, it's often hard to come together as a group to face what happened to you. i'm curious about you, alberta, and how it feels for you to be in this circle, have... being that this is your first time. >> i was thinking of what people will say-- we're... we're doing it just for the money, we're... "they're lying." >> yeah. >> but it's not that. we were hurt as kids. ( sobs ) they hurt us, and it can never be fixed.

>> i was very angry and upset, because i started wondering how come i was crying. i really needed help, and i didn't know what was going on at the time. i did not know i was suffering ptsd. i still have nightmares about joe lundowski molesting... having sex with me. i get up sweating, angry, feel like i could hurt somebody. i never meaned to get angry at my children, but the anger went on my children, also. >> i know it's hard, packy, and i'm sorry that all of that has happened to you and your kids. >> i keep asking for help. nobody's been listening to me for a long time. >> go ahead, tommy. >> ( sobbing ) >> it wasn't your fault. it wasn't your fault. >> it's almost like a universal pain, and it runs very deep.

if jesus were to come to the village, i have no doubt in my mind that he would be crying. he would cry. you know, it's hard to see your own people hurting so much when you know that there's so much strength and beauty. >> the only way that this thing is going to go away is people starting to forgive each other and forgive the catholic church. >> trahant: for almost eight years, the survivors in st. michael have been waiting for an apology from bishop donald kettler and the church. >> as bishop, i express profound sadness... >> trahant: now, the bishop is no longer denying church responsibility for the abuse,

and he says he's sorry that he didn't reach out to the victims sooner. >> what i'm saying to you today i probably would not been able to say eight years ago. i regret that. but, like everybody, being... we have to learn and grow and... but i never felt, at any time, that somehow... that i would not have to... to admit to and say that these things happened, you know. and... because you have to learn, you know, i guess how you're going to say it. i don't know. >> trahant: the bishop's now being forced to apologize. as part of the church settlement with the victims, the court ordered him to return to all of the villages and meet with the victims in person, something no other bishop in the country has done on this scale. he landed in st. michael in

december 2010. >> in st. michael's, we've had a great deal of our sexual abuse happen there. and so, i am conscious of the importance of this visit. i'm anxious insofar as i'm wondering how... how i will be received. what... what will happen? what i can do. >> when they settled the cases, one of the things that the committee asked for was that the bishop would travel to the villages where there were victims, and have a mass and apologize, because we want the bishop and the church to take responsibility. >> i'd be really looking forward for him to come and apologize to each... >> it looks like it would mean a lot to you. >> that would make relief, some relief from what...

( sniffles ) >> i've seen how important it would be to have someone from the church say they're sorry. the bishop has that power to reach that little kid and say, "it wasn't your fault. you did nothing wrong." and i don't know if he's able to do that. >> i've come this evening just to... to hear what you'd like to tell me, or what you'd like to say to me. so, if there's something that you'd like to tell me, please, you know, do that.

>> joseph lundowski, father endal... >> yes, yes. >> ...they were responsible for molesting me when i was a young boy. and all this time, i had this question, "why did they do this to me?" and i wish that those who victimized me, i wish they were here, too. >> yes. yeah. and that they would be punished, too, you know? >> i told my dad what happened in the church. my dad came in drunk with a pistol in hand. i held my brother in my arms while he was dying. >> in his mind, he sees the fact that his brother died as his fault because he told the truth, and he has a hard time moving beyond that. >> i got so much anger inside me. >> yes. yeah.

>> i'm trying to compose myself. >> i'm sorry. thank you. >> ( sniffling ) >> sorry. i'm sorry. >> ( sniffling ) >> yeah. >> ( sobbing ) >> i'm sorry. i don't think i understood the hurt that existed in communities. the process that i went through was a deeper understanding of the depth of the hurt.

we can never do enough to make up for what's happened to them personally. >> i hope my brother can rest now. >> you hope your brother is what? >> i hope my brother can rest now. >> yeah, yeah. >> i want the shame that ben carries to be lifted, and for the bishop to take that, because it's not ben's to carry. it's not packy's. it's not mine. it's not, you know, any of ours to carry. i want him to feel that, you know, to take that away from our people. >> trahant: in the years since the abuse occurred, the catholic church in st. michael has slowly lost almost all of its members, and no full-time priest has served here in years.

>> ...will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. do this in memory... >> trahant: when the bishop held a mass before he left, only a handful of the survivors showed up. >> i offer you both my apology and a little explanation of what i am attempting to do now, so that what happened to many will not happen again. >> i'm really hurting. i'm hoping to leave this anger. i've been working on it long time. i... i stopped praying for now and then; come back praying. >> please forgive me and the church for any hurt that has come to you from the church. >> thank you. >> you're welcome. >> when he was saying he was sorry, that made me cry.

it's the first time ever somebody ever said sorry for what somebody else did. >> please forgive me and the church for any hurt that has come to you from the church. >> i accept. >> thank you. thank you. >> please forgive me and the church for any hurt that has come to you from the church. >> i feel a lot better after confronting the bishop. the pain's always going to be there. you know, it's time for me to move on. >> trahant: father endal died in 1996.

until the scandal broke, he would be celebrated by the church as one of alaska's great pioneer priests. joseph lundowski died in a chicago rescue mission years before the accusations against him began to surface. father jim poole, the radio priest from nome, has denied most of the victims' accusations. in a deposition with victims' attorneys, he admitted only that he sometimes french-kissed native girls. to this day, father poole remains in a church retirement home near spokane, washington. he did not respond to frontline's request for an interview. because of the statute of limitations, none of the priests or church workers connected to the st. michael abuse would ever be prosecuted.

>> coming up next on this special edition of frontline, the new realities of airline safety. >> if i was pencil-whipping a job, that means i'm going to sign it off without doing the maintenance. >> "flying cheaper" begins right now. >> o'brien: a year ago, we investigated a commuter crash that shed light on a sea change in the airline industry. >> narrator: ...the buffalo crash of continental 3407, the deadliest u.s. air accident in eight years. >> o'brien: major carriers were outsourcing more and more flights to independent regionals... >> narrator: ...a major transformation in the airline industry... >> o'brien: ...raising serious questions about safety.

after the broadcast, we heard from hundreds of pilots, and airline mechanics, too. >> "as an aircraft maintenance technician with united airlines, i'd like you to follow up on this story with an investigation on aircraft maintenance." >> "the flying public has no idea what shenanigans go on behind the curtain." >> "much of this heavy maintenance is being done by the lowest bidder. as a former airline pilot with 25 years in the industry, this scares me the most." >> flight 2-8-0, you can land runway one at teterboro. >> we're unable. we may end up in the hudson. >> o'brien: we also talked to the co-pilot who helped safely land flight 1549 into the hudson river. he's worried about airline maintenance, too. >> ten years ago, maintenance was virtually all done in-house by the airline that's flying the airplane. now, heavy maintenance is mostly done by people who are unrelated to the airline that's flying... that's flying you as a passenger, and sometimes not even in this country. >> o'brien: so we decided to examine the airline maintenance

industry, and started at its annual convention here in phoenix. they call themselves mros, for maintenance, repair and overhaul. it's a highly competitive business. mros from all corners of the globe were here, trying to drum up business with u.s. airlines. so what's the advantage? why would... why would a u.s. airline fly an airplane all the way to turkey to get maintenance done? what's the advantage to going to turkey and your company? >> firstly, the quality is very high, and secondly is that the pricing... the pricing is very reasonable for the... >> o'brien: labor... labor is cheaper in turkey? >> yes, the labor is cheaper, yeah. >> o'brien: most major airlines now outsource the majority of their heavy maintenance, some as much as 70% or more. it's all to keep the airlines competitive and efficient, says mro spokesperson sarah macleod. >> what i would look at is what business am i in. am i in the business of flying

passengers or cargo, or am i in the business of maintaining my fleet? >> o'brien: their core business is to ensure a safe trip, isn't it? >> absolutely. i mean... but that's a given. i mean, i'm not going to stay in business very long if i'm going to be crashing aircraft. so part of your business is obviously to keep airworthy aircraft. but if i can have you do it more efficiently, it's kind of foolish for me not to. >> o'brien: one carrier that led the way into this new era is united airlines. it used to do virtually all its major maintenance in-house. but facing bankruptcy and competitive pressure from industry upstarts like southwest, united began outsourcing more of its repair work.7w now, about 60% of its maintenance is contracted out to independent mros. >> maintenance, traditionally, has been sacrosanct. it was one area where the industry collectively said, "no, that's not something we can cut."

in... in recent years, we've seen a change, and i don't think that we've yet seen all the manifestations of that change. >> at united, first and foremost, we had to get our own house in order... >> o'brien: at the mro conference, united's then-president, john tague, spoke about the economic challenges facing the airline industry, and i asked him about this outsourcing trend. what can you say to the public about that trend, and whether that ultimately could erode the possibility of continued safety in the airline business? >> you know, i think its wholly unrelated. i would ask them to take a journey with me to ameco in beijing. we have to get past this view that any work that's done in the u.s. is de facto done better. it's just not true. >> o'brien: i'd like to take you up on that offer-- would you take us to ameco? >> sure, absolutely. >> o'brien: we thought that was a great idea. ameco is one of asia's largest

mros, doing maintenance on united wide-body jets since 2005. we arranged a visit with ameco in china. we got visas and tickets. then, just days before our trip, ameco suddenly cancelled. but we knew about another place, here in the u.s., where united has moved its maintenance, and i flew to mobile, alabama, to take a look. this is one of the larger independent repair facilities in the u.s. it's owned by a company called st aerospace. >> according to statistics i've seen, st is the largest of all of the mros, the outsource facilities, worldwide. this is a singapore-based company that has opened maintenance facilities in the united states. >> o'brien: since 2002, st has been doing a lot of maintenance here in mobile for major airlines like united, delta and u.s. airways, carriers that used to do almost all of their

maintenance in-house. st would not allow us to visit or grant an interview, but we talked to many st workers, from line mechanics to supervisors. here at papa buddha's, a bar in mobile, we heard a lot about long hours, hard working conditions, and the pressure mechanics were under to "move the planes." a few agreed to talk, but only if we would protect their identities. >> to be honest, if you have one inspector... >> o'brien: one-- we'll call him "john"-- worked at a major airline for many years before joining st. what were your marching orders when you were inside st? >> it was typically "push." i mean, you know, you were given x amount of time to accomplish a task. and they wanted to keep moving forward faster and faster, you know. "whatever it takes to get it done, get it done." >> o'brien: though st wouldn't let us in, secretly, we did get footage from inside the facility.

it's a place where another veteran mechanic told us about a shortcut he'd seen used called "pencil-whipping". >> if i was pencil whipping a job, that means i'm just going to sign it off without doing the maintenance and lie about what i did, so that we don't lose time, you know, fixing it. >> o'brien: you whipped the problem with a pencil, not a wrench. >> that's right, you beat it right on down. that's pencil whipping. >> o'brien: we showed what the mechanics at st had told us to veteran faa inspector linda goodrich. >> it's just devastating to hear things like that, because it's just... you know it happens, it's... you know, and just for the exact reasons that he said. but you can't take shortcuts. this is an industry you can't take shortcuts. it will come back to bite you. >> o'brien: this kind of shortcut was discovered at st last spring. according to an internal company document obtained by frontline, u.s. airways found fuel leaks in three of its planes that had

been serviced at st mobile. an investigation found that mechanics had signed off the work as completed when, in fact, the work was not, failures that could have resulted in "serious aircraft mishaps." >> this is very serious. because if they're willing to do it for something as important as this, then they're willing to do it on just about any level. i mean, this is the tip-of-an- iceberg type of a situation, and not a good one, for sure. >> o'brien: other company documents show multiple maintenance failures at st last year: a misrouted flight control cable; the failure to install a navigation box; landing gear with a broken hydraulic line. one of the biggest issues with the quality of work at independent mros is the quality of the workforce.

at the largest major airlines, the vast majority of mechanics are licensed by the faa. but not at independent mros, like here at st, where about two-thirds of the nearly 1,200 mechanics are unlicensed. that's because the faa regulations don't require that all airline mechanics hold a license or certificate. why isn't everybody who is working on an airplane licensed to work on airplanes? >> because the system has demonstrated that, in fact, people can perform the functions that are a part of repairing an airplane that don't rise to the level of needing that certificate. >> o'brien: but wouldn't it be better if they were all licensed? >> they are certainly able to be licensed. we don't require that. >> o'brien: why not? >> because, again, the system has demonstrated that we can meet the safety standards, because our inspectors go in and establish that the individuals are competent to do the work they're doing. >> o'brien: this faa licensing policy has implications for the workforce at st, where the

company has brought in less experienced and less expensive workers. mechanics start at about $14 an hour. they've also gone global, bringing in foreign labor to work on airplanes in mobile. >> they're issued work visas, and they're brought in from the philippines, south america, the ukraine, africa. they're brought in from everywhere and anywhere. >> o'brien: "tom" has worked at st for more than ten years. >> a lot of these guys can't speak, read or write english, you know. i'll see these guys practicing their abcs. >> o'brien: so they're practicing their abcs, and they're supposed to be able to read a, you know, a boeing 757 manual. >> exactly, yeah. >> mechanics use a lot of the same things that we use in the cockpit. they use... they have to follow checklist procedures. they have to follow maintenance manuals. if you've got somebody that doesn't speak english, they can't be following the checklist to make the repair. they've got to essentially be winging it.

>> o'brien: in a written response to frontline, st said that foreign nationals make up less than 10% of their workforce and all are assessed for language skills. and before hiring all mechanics, they conduct a thorough review of their work history and a verification of their background. but "john" says that's not what happened when he was hired. >> i applied online with a contracting company. i sent them my résumé, and within a couple of days, they called me up and asked me when i could be there. >> o'brien: so, what did that tell you? >> well, i thought... i was pretty apprehensive of that. i... i expected an interview, at least, when i got there. but i was just told, "show up. you've got the job." i didn't even have to present any of the documents of any of my training. i mean, it was... they took me on my word. >> o'brien: multiple faa reports cite repeated concerns about the quality of the workforce at st:

"a shortage of qualified maintenae personnel"; concerns about english fluency; a lack of proper training; and repeated questions about management's commitment to safety. according to faa records, the agency has levied 15 enforcement actions against st mobile since 2003. only one resulted in a fine-- of $11,000. if you've got 15 enforcement actions, one $11,000 fine, and the same write-ups over and over again, happens again and again-- that's a problem, isn't it? >> it's the responsibility of the inspectors. as they do their write-ups, they are getting corrective action. they are recommending enforcement actions. those enforcement actions are pursued if we have the evidence. based on their expertise, i am satisfied that they are satisfied that this is a company that is meeting our standards. >> it's not working. and you do this enough, and we're a joke. inspectors become a joke.

we come in there and they're going, "yeah, yeah, sure, sure, whatever." "we'll just continue what we've been doing, because there hasn't been a consequence big enough to change our attitude on this." >> o'brien: one of the most troubling things i heard at st involved a major faa inspection here last april. tell me about this particular inspection. how much warning did everybody have? >> probably a little more than two weeks that we knew this was going to happen. >> o'brien: two weeks of warning, and did the faa indicate what it was looking for? >> we had meetings, and we were informed on the things that we needed to go ahead and prepare for. >> o'brien: several workers told us that, in preparation for the faa inspection, there was a massive clean-up. >> it was amazing all the stuff that was thrown out. we had dumpsters full of stuff carried out of there constantly. >> o'brien: what kind of stuff were you throwing away? >> aircraft parts that were unmarked. the trackability on there... if the trackability of an aircraft part is invalid, then that part

is no good, and it's supposed to be destroyed and got rid of. >> o'brien: so wait a minute-- so these are parts that are illegal. >> that would be the easy way to say it-- an illegal part. >> o'brien: according to faa reports, one of the most pervasive problems at st has been its handling of airplane parts. since 2004, st has been cited repeatedly for failing to properly tag, document and track parts through its maintenance system. several workers told us that, prior to the faa inspection, untagged illegal parts were moved to this rented warehouse not far from st. so this is the place which, supposedly, is just loaded up with parts that are undocumented and illegal, right? >> yep. >> o'brien: in the trash here are some papers that are linked to united airlines for a controlled part of some kind.

so, clearly, this is a spot that st is using for something. several workers told us that, after the inspection, some of the illegal parts were taken back to st. so, eventually, what is happening is parts that don't have the paperwork, parts that are illegal, end up on airplanes that fly passengers around this country. >> correct. >> o'brien: i think that would shock a lot of people. >> well, that would... yeah, that would shock me. and it did shock me. >> o'brien: in response, st wrote frontline that it does not have untagged or undocumented parts, that all parts used on aircraft are properly documented, and that its records are regularly audited by the faa and airlines. based on what we've showed you with documentation and interviews, how would you characterize st mobile as an operation? >> ah, i think i... i would be deeply concerned over their viability to be any kind of

consistent organization, with the stuff i've seen here, to the point where, pending investigations, they should be suspended. something's seriously wrong here, and this is... we need to investigate this. >> o'brien: our investigation of st focused on just one facility in the vast $29 billion global mro industry. but many insiders say the trend lines with maintenance are clear. what we hear time and again from people who are in the field-- in the trenches, as it were-- is that, over the years, with this wonderful system we've created, we create this huge margin for safety. and that what is happening, because of all the pressures here in the airline industry in general and, specifically, in maintenance, is we're kind of eating away at that margin. we're borrowing from the margin. what do you say to that? >> well, i would say, over the last ten or 12 years, we have actually reduced the risk in aviation by over 80% for fatal accidents. so, if anything, we have expanded the safety margins, we haven't eaten away.

but the idea that... that we might affect the safety margins is a very high concern for the faa. it is what we focus on. >> o'brien: is the industry borrowing from its safety margin? >> i think there's no question. it's... it's simply not good enough to say, "well, you know, let's look at the safety record and let's look at the statistics," as a way of not addressing what could be problems that are fomenting now. the faa says that everything is fine. i think there are an awful lot of experts in the industry that i have spoken to that question that. >> o'brien: how much evidence is there, if at all, that safety is being compromised by this system of repair and maintenance? >> it's going to be at the expense of a smoking hole at the end of the runway. i mean, i hate to see it come to that point, you know? it's going to be more reactive than proactive, and the downside

is... is there's going to be people that are going to die. and i hate to see that happen. >> o'brien: of course, no one can predict a crash, but industry insiders are increasingly sounding the alarm about the high cost of flying cheaper. just last week, there was a new development in our investigation into airline maintenance. a lawsuit was filed against st mobile by pilots and flight attendants at us airways. they allege that they were exposed to toxic fumes due to faulty work performed during seven weeks of maintenance at st mobile. the plaintiffs claim the problems with toxic fumes occurred on several flights of this boeing 767, tail number 251, not long after it was serviced at st mobile. >> immediately following that scheduled heavy maintenance, the

aircraft began experiencing what are called "fume events," which is contamination of the air in the cabin of the aircraft because of burning engine oil and hydraulic fluid. >> o'brien: the most serious incident took place in january 2010, when eight passengers were treated and seven crew members were hospitalized for respiratory problems. some crew members say the problems continue to affect their health today. >> st aerospace should have found the causes of these problems. there were a number of issues that should have been red flags to them. instead, this aircraft was signed off by st aerospace as being airworthy when it was not. >> o'brien: in response to the lawsuit, st mobile told frontline that they are confident that their work was not responsible for fume events on plane 251. as for us airways, it had no comment on their crew members' lawsuit, and the airline says that safety has not been compromised by the use of third-party maintenance facilities, like st mobile.

we contacted the faa, but it had no comment on the lawsuit, either. as this story develops, we will continue to update the frontline web site. finally tonight, an update on another recent frontline story, one that we broadcast just a few weeks ago. it was an in-depth portrait of the controversial chinese artist and activist ai weiwei, who has been coming under increasing government scrutiny lately. just days after our story aired, this news came from beijing. >> chinese authorities have confirmed the arrest of contemporary artist ai weiwei. a staunch defender... >> o'brien: ai weiwei was taken into custody on unspecified "economic crimes," and he hasn't been heard from since. ai weiwei's arrest quickly set off a round of protest in nearby hong kong and around the world. >> good morning, everyone. >> o'brien: within days, secretary of state hillary clinton called for the release

of dozens of chinese intellectuals and artists jailed in the recent crackdown. >> among them, most recently, was the prominent artist ai weiwei, who was taken into custody just this past sunday. >> o'brien: in response, a chinese foreign ministry spokesman urged the united states not to "interfere" in ai weiwei's case. meanwhile, later this month, ai weiwei is scheduled to visit new york city for a new exhibition of his art. this footage taken by filmmaker alison klayman is from ai weiwei's last trip to manhattan. a few years ago, he conceived of an installation of a dozen of his sculptures in this area outside the plaza hotel. but as we enter the third week with no word from ai weiwei, the question is whether the chinese government will let him return to attend the opening in person.

you can continue to follow updates on ai weiwei's story from filmmaker alison klayman on frontline's web site at pbs.org. we'll see you next time on frontline. >> next time on frontline... >> you could run a dead man for coroner, and he'd get elected. >> ...after the crime... >> they find what the police want them to find. >> ...after the mistakes... >> story after story about competence. >> ...the truth is in the coroner's hands. >> you call a death an accident or miss a homicide, a murderer goes free. >> frontline, propublica and npr investigate... >> the truth did go to the grave. >>... "post mortem." >> this program continues online with an interactive world map of airline maintenance facilities. and from alaska, more on the story of clergy sex abuse, resources for survivors of abuse... >> move beyond the shame and the guilt. >> ...and more about the legal settlement.

and there's much more on frontline's web site-- watch more than 100 full programs, explore interactive timelines, and follow ongoing frontline investigations. then, tell us what you think at pbs.org. >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. and by reva & david logan. committed to investigative journalism as the guardian of the public interest. additional funding is provided by the park foundation. dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by the frontline journalism fund. additional funding for frontline's expanded broadcast season is provided by the bill

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