MD-80s like the one that landed yesterday at JFK have had their share of problems this year.
Over March 26 and March 27, and then again between April 8 and April 12, an FAA safety audit against American Airlines forced the airline to ground its MD-80 series fleet, to inspect the aircraft's hydraulic wiring. American was forced to cancel nearly 2,500 flights in March and more than 3,200 in April.
Grrrr. Like the issues with inspections in March and April are related to the engine failure yesterday.
I really hate how stupid the media always is when it comes to anything aviation (that "little airplane" syndrome for GA). It is statements like these that lead Pa Kettle to say, "Golly, don't fly AA. They had all them planes shut down by the Po-lice in MArch because of bad engines and then one blew up in that there New York City a few days ago."