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Inspectors Fault FAA-Industry Partnerships
By Gregg Carlstrom
Federal Times
Monday 14 April 2008
Two years ago, a Federal Aviation Administration inspector discovered safety
violations on a Boeing 737 and notified his supervisor.
But a week later, after apparently being notified by the FAA, the airline self-disclosed
the problem under one of the agency's "partnership programs"
and avoided a fine. That was a violation of FAA rules, which prohibit airlines
from self-disclosing a safety problem when the agency identifies the problem
first.
Legislators and former FAA employees say this incident wasn't a one-time
problem, but one of many that stem from the agency's collaborative relationship
with airlines.
The FAA has struck partnership programs with the airlines it is charged with
overseeing. They allow airlines and repair stations to self-report their safety
violations.
But critics say these partnership programs make it difficult for inspectors
to do their jobs. And a string of high-profile safety lapses has brought the
programs under scrutiny.
Earlier this month, Southwest Airlines disclosed it flew more than 60,000 flights
on planes that were not properly inspected. The airline even kept flying those
planes for more than a week after it self-reported the problem under its partnership
program with FAA.
And in recent weeks, Delta, American Airlines and United Airlines have grounded
thousands of flights to catch up on missed safety inspections.
Other examples of the FAA's cozy relationship with airlines abound, according
to Tom Brantley, president of Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, the
union representing FAA inspectors. In 2007, an inspector found 11 different
problems on American Eagle planes in Fort Worth, Texas. But his supervisor refused
to send letters of warning to the airline.
And in Hawaii, managers at Aloha Airlines complained about random inspections,
claiming they disrupted flight schedules; the agency responded, according to
Brantley, by banning them.
"[They're] get-out-of-jail programs," said Rick Andrews,
a former FAA safety inspector who recently retired after 31 years on the job.
"The original idea was, they would let us find out about things we wouldn't
find out about otherwise. But the problem is … we're forced to keep
taking repeat self-disclosures, even if the fixes that the company is submitting
turn out to not be adequate. And that's a big problem."
Now, FAA's partnership programs may be in for some changes.
Legislators have called for high-level firings at the aviation agency and pushed
the FAA to implement changes proposed by the Transportation Department's
inspector general. Those changes include conducting a secondary review of airline
self-disclosures of safety problems, ensuring that airlines abide by the rules
of the partnership programs and periodically rotating supervisors to avoid cozy
relationships with airlines.
A Collaborative Relationship
The FAA's programs were an effort to repair what agency officials called
the "adversarial" relationship they had with airlines in the 1990s.
The most prominent, and most controversial, is the Voluntary Disclosure Reporting
Program (VDRP), which allows airlines to report on safety violations and fix
the underlying problems. If the airline immediately self-reports, and the violations
weren't deliberate, FAA doesn't pursue fines or other punishment.
Another program, the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP), encourages airlines
to report on potential problems. FAA says it uses ASAP to help its employees
identify problem areas for inspection.
Agency officials say the programs have improved public safety by encouraging
airlines to correct their own problems: A recent FAA audit found that airlines
are 99 percent compliant with safety inspections.
"An inspector can look at an airplane as many times as they want. There
is no limitation," said Nicholas Sabatini, FAA associate administrator
for safety. "But what we're doing is collecting data so that, before
you go to conduct an inspection, you need to be well-informed."
The programs have won widespread praise from airlines. Southwest Airlines,
American Airlines and United Airlines all refused to comment on the record,
citing concerns over the aviation debate in Washington. But an American Airlines
spokesman said the programs had been beneficial to the airline.
Airline industry groups agree and say the programs are a big improvement over
the 1990s.
"Safety is good business for airlines. It's essential for airlines,"
said Basil Barimo, vice president of operations and safety at the Air Transport
Association, an airline industry group. "The last thing we want to do
is rebuild a wall that existed a couple of decades ago between airlines and
the regulator."
The FAA and the airlines say the industry's safety record proves the
programs are working: The last major commercial aviation accident caused by
mechanical problems was in November 2001, making this a record-long period of
accident-free flying.
Going 'Through the Motions'
But FAA employees and the unions that represent them aren't so enthusiastic
about the partnership programs. They argue that the partnerships put FAA inspectors
in a difficult position, deciding between doing their jobs and "collaborating"
with the airlines.
Andrews, the retired safety inspector, said he didn't file a single violation
during his last few years on the job.
"It's not because I didn't want to," Andrews said.
"But the [violations] that happen day to day, that we used to do enforcement
cases on, that just goes into the ASAP program. So what is the incentive? If
you can't succeed with enforcement, why even start it?"
Union leaders say that attitude has a chilling effect on safety inspections.
And current and former FAA inspectors say the collaborative programs hurt the
agency's ability to enforce the law.
"They've turned the divide to a point where the FAA punishments
are really meaningless," Brantley told Federal Times. "Inspectors
will still go through the motions, file their findings, draft up a letter, give
it to their manager, and then the manager will turn around and say, 'We're
not going to come down on them for this.'"
"You just don't have a hammer anymore," Andrews agreed.
Brantley pointed to Southwest Airlines, which continued to fly dozens of planes
that were behind on their inspections. The airline self-reported a few violations
more than a year ago but never fixed the underlying problems, which affected
dozens of planes. So it continued to fly potentially unsafe aircraft for months.
"We had violations in December of 2006," said Calvin Scovel, the
Transportation Department's inspector general. "If there had been
complete fixes, there should not have been future violations."
At a Senate Transportation subcommittee hearing on aviation operations, safety
and security, some legislators took their criticism a step further, suggesting
there's been a pattern of poor regulation during the Bush administration.
"We need to collaborate with industry, but the whole system was set up
so there is enforcement," said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
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