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The United States Federal Aviation Administration claims French and U.S. officials are currently investigating whether a ban on shipping devices in passenger planes has been violated. They want to know whether 900 oxygen generators were shipped into the United States aboard Air France. Since oxygen generators were implicated in the Valuejet crash last year, shipment of oxygen generators by passenger planes has been banned, with one exception. They can be carried by cargo planes if properly labeled and declared. The FAA has been concerned since Federal Express notified it of a shipment of undeclared generators within the United States that was traced back to Air France on June 30. Air France claimed it could not give out details because an investigation was underway. One FAA official said that while the alleged shipment appears to have included generators packed in protective metal containers, officials are concerned that they may have been on board a passenger plane. Reports indicate the oxygen generators were undeclared and could have been aboard a passenger- cargo flight as well as an all-cargo flight. But because the cargo was undeclared, reports indicate that Air France could very well have been an unknowing carrier. After all, in April, Continental Airlines Inc. unknowingly transported armed oxygen generators on an uneventful flight from Los Angeles to Houston. |
