Associated Press | Federal regulators have hit American Airlines with $300,000 in new penalties over maintenance issues.

The Federal Aviation Administration said Thursday American’s mechanics
put off maintenance last year on a part designed to ensure that pilots
get accurate readings on speed. The FAA said mechanics noted problems
with a dashboard light on a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, then discovered
the next day that a part called a pitot probe heater wasn’t working.

Pitot probes measure an aircraft’s speed and are equipped with heaters to prevent freezing up during flight. The FAA says the plane should have been limited to daytime flying in good weather, but American used it on five flights in violation of federal rules.

The airline has 30 days to appeal.

On March 12, federal regulators recommended fining American $787,500 for
three cases of alleged maintenance problems.

In the most serious case, regulators say American operated a plane
without replacing a central air data computer on the jet. The
McDonnell-Douglas jet has two such computers, which tell pilots the
speed and altitude of the plane.

In April 2008, pilots landing in Los Angeles noticed warning indicators
going off, and mechanics traced the problem to the computer, according
to an FAA document. Instead of fixing the computer as required by
federal rules, the mechanics wrote up the incident as a problem with
the auto throttle and the plane flew 10 flights with a broken computer,
the FAA said.

Another
case involves inadequate inspections of rudder components on some
Boeing 757 jets. In the third incident, the FAA said mechanics sent a
plane back into service before final steps of a thorough maintenance