Aircraft News - North America

AirGuide Business, April 21, 2008

Apr 21, 2008

The Bush administration said on Friday it will more closely examine airline safety and assigned a panel of outside experts to gauge the effectiveness of Federal Aviation Administration oversight. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters told a news conference her agency "must do more" to respond to recent flight disruptions affecting more than 300,000 travelers that were related to aircraft inspection lapses at big airlines. Apr 19, 2008

The US FAA has been under fire in Congress and from the Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General for its oversight of Southwest Airlines and other carriers. Lawmakers and the inspector general, prompted by agency whistle-blowers, have asserted senior FAA inspectors and senior maintenance personnel at Southwest had a cozy relationship that led to lapses in compliance with aircraft inspection orders. Apr 19, 2008

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters also announced the FAA would more closely examine airline inspection practices, and any alerts about overdue checks would be routed directly to senior officials in Washington. Currently, any notice of lapsed inspections is handled by regional FAA officials. After missed inspections for fuselage cracks on Southwest jets were revealed in March, the inspector general's office said the FAA had for years failed to verify whether the carrier was complying with its safety orders. Apr 19, 2008

Transportation Secretary Mary Peters wants separate reports from American and the FAA, within two weeks on the disruptions. American twice failed to satisfy FAA requirements for inspecting and installing certain wiring in MD-80s, regulators said. The FAA denied a request by American for an alternative to grounding the planes, company executives have said. Apr 19, 2008

FAA Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell on Thursday apologized for oversight problems that forced American Airlines to cancel thousands of flights but warned that the FAA must maintain its "partnership" approach with the carriers. "If we return to the 'gotcha' approach of decades past ... I think we risk driving these safety issues underground," Sturgell said. Apr 18, 2008

Some former leaders in the airline industry now have high-level regulatory positions. Meanwhile, former FAA officials often find jobs in the travel industry. Ethical rules prevent conflicts of interest, according to the FAA. The FAA has also said that it plans to restrict safety inspectors from taking an airline position for a certain amount of time after leaving the FAA. Apr 18, 2008

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will tighten oversight of airline safety after aircraft groundings at big carriers, but will not absolve airlines of responsibility for monitoring their own safety, the FAA's senior official said on Thursday. Sturgell was questioned about maintenance lapses in FAA oversight at Southwest Airlines in March that triggered closer scrutiny of all airlines. Stepped up industrywide checks revealed problems at American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and other carriers and led to hundreds of planes being grounded. Big airlines grounded mostly older Boeing 737s and MD-80s over the past month to re-inspect them for structural and wiring problems. Airlines canceled roughly 4,000 flights, but the worst disruption was at American, which grounded 300 planes last week. Concerns over the safety of Southwest planes were brought to light by FAA whistle-blowers, who took the information to Congress. Apr 18, 2008

Domestic scheduled airlines flew 18.7 million hours in 2007 with no fatal accidents, according to government data released Wednesday. "The U.S. aviation industry has produced an admirable safety record in recent years," said NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker. "However, we must not become complacent. We must continue to take the lessons learned from our investigations and use them to create even safer skies for all aircraft operators and their passengers." Apr 17, 2008

Both the House and Senate have approved short-term authority extensions for the FAA, giving senators more time to write a four-year reauthorization measure of the agency. While the House has already passed its authorization legislation, the Senate is still debating its version. Both chambers will need to work out the differences in their two measures before the June 30 extension expires. With competing legislative priorities in a contentious election year, additional extensions may jeopardize final passage before the end of the 110th Congress. Apr 15, 2008

Angered by the negative publicity associated with the disruption, both maintenance workers and pilots spoke out last week. Transport Workers Union International VP Dennis Burchette issued a statement defending maintenance employees, saying FAA's wiring directive has been revised at least four times. "Hundreds of highly trained, FAA award-winning technicians, the best in the business, with decades of experience, didn't simply get it wrong. These changes have been a moving target," he said. Meanwhile, pilots represented by the Allied Pilots Assn. organized demonstrations in nine cities "to call attention to the airline's poor performance and customer service." Apr 14, 2008