Narrative:

I have a concern with FAA oversight of my air carrier's maintenance practices. In a conversation with a company mechanic yesterday; I learned that [one of our] B737-800 aircraft had a takeoff engine failure out of ZZZ. From what I gathered from the conversation; the engine that failed had a history of problems yet was continually approved for further flights right up until the time of failure. His implication was management's fix for the problem was lets keep it out of ZZZ1; but keep flying it. He also stated that he learned that there was a management decision in order to save money; not to have spare engines. I do not know if this is true. We as pilots have been screaming that maintenance is broken and must be fixed. It falls on deaf ears when we say it; but where is the FAA in this. The history of this aircraft is not a secret. Pulling a kva [generator] on this aircraft verifies that it is a ticking time bomb. My concern is of FAA oversight and company management accountability. Please correct me if I am wrong; but this is a trend; yet nothing [has been] done to address it.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A B737-800 pilot reports about his concerns with the limited FAA oversight of his Air Carrier's Maintenance practices involving repetitive sign-offs of chronic aircraft malfunctions that eventually lead to 'expected' failures.

Narrative: I have a concern with FAA oversight of my Air Carrier's Maintenance practices. In a conversation with a company Mechanic yesterday; I learned that [one of our] B737-800 aircraft had a takeoff engine failure out of ZZZ. From what I gathered from the conversation; the engine that failed had a history of problems yet was continually approved for further flights right up until the time of failure. His implication was Management's fix for the problem was lets keep it out of ZZZ1; but keep flying it. He also stated that he learned that there was a Management decision in order to save money; not to have spare engines. I do not know if this is true. We as pilots have been screaming that Maintenance is broken and must be fixed. It falls on deaf ears when we say it; but where is the FAA in this. The history of this aircraft is not a secret. Pulling a KVA [Generator] on this aircraft verifies that it is a ticking time bomb. My concern is of FAA oversight and company Management accountability. Please correct me if I am wrong; but this is a trend; yet nothing [has been] done to address it.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.