Federal inspectors say they were impressed with the pilots at Continental Airlines and found no serious flaws with the management. The Federal Aviation Administration reported Friday on the Continental inspection, conducted in October, which did find some shortcomings in record-keeping and listed 142 specific items in which there were technical violations of federal regulations. Among the concerns raised by the FAA inspection team were that Continental pilots on numerous occasions did not get enough rest between flights, that records were incomplete and that manuals often were not up to date. The inspection by a special team of investigators was similar to those regularly scheduled at all major air carriers and not prompted by any specific incident or concern. Many of the 142 violations cited in the report were not considered to be major. For example, a flight attendant was found with no flashlight, ``fasten seat belt'' signs were found missing on the back of some aircraft seats, and an inspector observed two pilots eating their meals at the same time while at cruising altitude _ all technical violations of regulations. Among other items cited in the report were pilots who failed to record maintenance discrepancies in a log after items were fixed, a pilot not making proper altitude callouts during a landing and a crew failing to use an anti-ice mechanism while descending in possible icing conditions. But the team of FAA inspectors said that overall, ``team members were very impressed with the professionalism displayed by Continental cockpit and cabin crews while conducting en route inspections. Cockpit resource management was evident on all flights.'' The FAA report said the inspectors conducted 358 en route inspections at Continental beginning last Oct. 13. The FAA said Continental's management ``is adequate for the scope of the operation'' but that at times there are problems with the flow of information from upper and middle management to first-line supervisors and personnel. Flight and training manuals have not been brought up to date because of the introduction of a wide array of aircraft to the airline as it expanded and absorbed other air carriers, the FAA said. Some manuals were not accurate in the location of some emergency equipment such as fire extinguishers on certain aircraft, the report said. The inspection team said that Continental's training program ``is in compliance'' with regulations but it said training records did not always clearly reflect in summary sheets when a pilot's performance was unsatisfactory. In addition, inspectors were not able to adequately determine whether Continental pilots are in full compliance with flight and duty regulations because of poor record-keeping. ``On numerous occasions Continental Airlines flight crews received less than the (amount) of reduced rest required by Continental's operations manual pilot scheduling policy,'' said the report.
