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 "I do not want the FAA to be the quality
control unit for each airline," Robert Sturgell, acting FAA
administrator, told a Senate appropriations subcommittee.
 "I want them to
check quality control."
Sturgell was questioned about maintenance lapses in FAA oversight at
Southwest Airlines in March that triggered closer scrutiny of all airlines.
Stepped up industry wide 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. A follow-up
investigation by House of Representatives Transportation Committee and
Transportation Department Inspector General Calvin Scovel revealed what he
called an "overly collaborative" relationship at Southwest between
airline maintenance personnel and FAA management at the agency's Dallas office
regarding compliance with FAA safety directives. After missed
inspections for fuselage cracks on Southwest jets were revealed in March,
Scovel said the FAA had not verified the carrier's compliance with FAA safety
directives since 1999. Scovel said the FAA also had not completed 21 key
safety inspections at Southwest over the past five years. As of Tuesday,
Scovel said four still had not been done. Airlines are permitted to
self-report compliance through an FAA system, the reliability of which has
been questioned in the past. It crunches data, tracks trends, and helps to
identify risks and safety priorities.
Scovel said the inspector general's office had in the past identified
"system wide" problems with the voluntary program, and recommended
closer oversight. But, he told Murray's committee, the FAA had not responded
satisfactorily. Sturgell said its follow-up review of industry
compliance with FAA safety orders was 99 percent satisfactory. He has promised
closer in-house oversight of inspection schedules but is wary of calls for a
"get tough" policy. Airline self-reporting underpins much of
FAA oversight, and the agency says it is realistic and valuable, despite the
problems of the past month.
Sturgell said voluntary self-reporting ensures a stream of important data
and prevents "driving safety issues underground." He said he did not
want to return to a time when signs in aircraft hangers warned workers not to
speak to FAA staff. Silence, Sturgell said, can be catastrophic. He
denied assertions of agency complacency and disputed Scovel's claims of
chronic safety problems resulting from noncompliance with safety regulations.
He said agency inspectors were stretched, but the airlines should continue to
review their own performance and report results.
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