The obscure cargo airline that Eastern Airlines is counting on to keep it aloft in case of a strike faces questions about its safety record as the government decides whether it is fit to carry passengers. Few air travelers have ever heard of Orion Air, a North Carolina cargo carrier which serves such air freight companies as United Parcel Service, Emery Air Freight and Purolator. But if labor strife intensifies at Eastern, many of that airline's customers may find themselves with tickets to fly Orion _ and the prospect has caused federal safety officials to step up scrutiny of the airline. Recently Eastern entered into an agreement with Orion, including the leasing of 26 of Eastern's jetliners, that call on the airline to take over much of Eastern's routes if pilots and mechanics go on strike. Orion would fly the Eastern planes with its own pilots and ground workers, Eastern officials said. But the FAA has yet to approve Orion for passenger service, and a senior agency official said Tuesday that an enforcement proceeding is under way that likely will include fines against Orion because of past safety violations. An FAA inspection report on Orion shows ``a large number of serious safety infractions,'' said Anthony Broderick, the FAA's associate administrator for aviation standards. Broderick said the airline's management has taken actions ``to permit Orion to safely operate its cargo business'' and training and maintenance procedures ``are being corrected to prevent similar occurrences in the future.'' At congressional hearings Tuesday, James L. Heffernan, an Orion vice president, said problems cited by the FAA have been corrected. Heffernan called Orion's safety record excellent and maintained that much of the FAA's concerns stemmed from a ``misunderstanding'' by FAA inspectors about Orion's method of record keeping. ``Orion Air responded to each of the FAA's proposed findings last summer and are still in the process of resolving these issues. Obviously, if any of the issues compromised air safety, the FAA would not have allowed Orion Air to continue to operate,'' Heffernan continued. But Rep. Cardiss Collins, D-Ill., chairman of the House government operations and transportation subcommittee, called Orion ``an airline in near-shambles'' and raised questions about its fitness to fly passengers. In an interview, Steven Kolski, a vice president of Eastern, said Eastern executives believe Orion's past safety problems have been resolved. He expressed confidence that the airline's fitness will be assured before the FAA allows it to engage in passenger-carrying flights. ``We got a report that said they (Orion) are a hell of a lot better today than they were a year ago and that most, if not all, of their problems were behind them and they were in good shape,'' said Kolski. Kolski said Eastern is relying on the agreement with Orion to keep Eastern's service going if its 10,000 mechanics go on strike and its 4,000 pilots refuse to cross the picket lines. But FAA officials were not as certain that all of Orion's safety shortcomings are behind it. The FAA cited ``systemic difficulties'' with the airline's training program, record keeping and use of operational handbooks that are not yet corrected. And the agency disclosed it was seeking civil penalties against Orion for past violations, although no amounts were cited. ``Once the systemic problems have all been corrected, the FAA will turn its attention toward developing an appropriate enforcement package, including a proposed fine'' for past violations, Broderick said. Orion's problems stem from safety violations found in early 1987 _ violations that attracted little public attention because Orion's 55 jets were carrying only cargo. Among the findings by FAA inspectors were a shortage of required training records; inadequate auditing of maintenance facilites; poor documentation on the qualifications of ``check pilots'' who decide on the performance of line pilots; incomplete flight operations manuals, instances of pilots failing to go through required refresher training; and training programs that did not meet federal standards. In a related development Tuesday, the FAA made public a report on improvements Eastern Airlines has made in its own maintenance program since the airline was fined a record $9.5 million two years ago. The FAA said that Eastern has made ``substantial progress'' to correct past deficiencies, but that some concerns remain about the airline's deferred maintenance program and repeated problems with certain equipment. Nevertheless, Eastern officials hailed the latest FAA findings which showed that corrective actions had been taken in 52 of the 53 areas cited by the FAA two years ago. ``We are very pleased. This report shows that Eastern has corrected the deficiencies,'' said Kolski.
