SWAT Slackness?

Air Safety Week, Oct 18, 2004

"We would like to simply raise an issue of concern regarding the Safety With A Team (SWAT) process," wrote three members of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in an Aug. 24 letter itemizing a list of concerns about staffing, media relations, and other management issues with Chairman Ellen Engleman-Connors. In a number of cases where the NTSB has recommended that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) take required action, the SWAT effort has resulted in advisory action (see ASW, Oct. 11). The three board members said about SWAT, "It is important that this effort is used to advance the recommendations of the board, not to redefine our role with respect to regulatory agencies or industry, nor settle for lesser actions that fall short of meeting the letter or the spirit of the original recommendations."

"While we wish to do all we can to encourage others to implement our recommendations, we need to continue to articulate clear standards and be consistent in urging parties to adopt them as long as the safety need exists."

An example, not cited in the members' letter but included in the Oct. 11 ASW table of SWAT activity, concerns the NTSB's recommendation to require that the emergency oxygen bottle be clearly and unambiguously marked "Open" or "Closed" on Learjet, Inc. model 35 and 36 airplanes. The case relates to the 1999 crash of a Lear 35, which killed golf professional Payne Stewart and five other crew and passengers aboard, in which hypoxia was suspected due to the potential to misread the emergency oxygen bottle before takeoff as "On" when it is "Off" (see ASW, Dec. 4, 2000 and May 31).

The NTSB's recommendation was closed out with "acceptable alternate action." That action was the issuance of an FAA special airworthiness information bulletin (SAIB) which mentioned the redesign of the bottle markings contained in the manufacturer's service bulletin (SB). Neither an SAIB nor an SB involves "required" compliance. An independent observer of the SWAT resolution on this matter said, "I don't see how the NTSB can say that an SAIB and a manufacturer's service bulletin is acceptable."

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