I dimly recalled reading a year or two ago about the offshoring of the repair and maintenance of American commercial aircraft to non-U.S. countries because of cheaper labor.
The Southwest Air fuselage breach incident reminded me of that. I Googled and found articles about this, but they were all published by unions, and I didn’t feel secure that they were unbiased.
What’s the straight dope? Is anyone well-informed about this?
As you’ve found out, it’s an emotionally charged topic and you’re unlikely to find unbiased information. Qantas started offshoring their heavy maintenance a while back and the Aussie engineers were quick to point out when anything went wrong with an aircraft out of the offshore maintenance base, but they don’t say boo about any problems at the local maintenance bases, and there will always be problems.
Personally I think it can be done safely provided the airline has suitable oversight of the maintenance that is done.