WASHINGTON (June 13, 2007) – Congressman Chandler today introduced a bill that calls for an independent review of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) aviation safety-related research programs—in particular those programs related to air traffic control and runway safety.

The FAA Aviation Safety Research Assessment Act of 2007 comes at a critical point in time.  The urgency of aviation safety issues has been emphasized by a surprising number of close calls involving passenger planes in the past month.  Just this week, New York City reported five in-flight near- collisions in May, and the San Francisco International Airport reported a near-collision on its runway the same month.

“The Comair crash last year made it clear that improved safety measures for air traffic controllers and pilots are desperately needed in airports throughout the United States,” said Congressman Ben Chandler.  “Considering the recent report, it is even more crucial that we act immediately to implement these much needed safety improvements.”

While the FAA has promised to adopt new rules that would make technology used to prevent runway accidents more affordable for airlines, they are still lagging behind on the implementation of these rules.  This technology, if made available, could decrease the number of near-accidents that occur each year.  A startling 31 “serious close calls” were reported in 2006.

“It is unacceptable that so many incursions are still taking place, even after the Comair crash at our own Blue Grass Airport,” said Chandler.  “We must do all we can to ensure that proper safety measures are implemented as soon as possible so that we can prevent similar tragedies from happening again.”

Currently, the FAA is conducting research that could prevent accidents, such as the impact of air traffic controller workloads, avoiding runway incursions, and other human factors.  The bill will call for an assessment of these FAA aviation safety-related research programs to ensure that they are operating effectively and in a timely manner.  The independent assessment would be made by a committee of the National Academies’ National Research Council.

According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), a large number of their recommendations to the FAA remain in “unacceptable action” status, including preventing runway incursions, improving audio and data recorders, requiring video recorders on aircraft, reducing accidents caused by human fatigue, and improving crew resource management for air taxi operations.

Having filed the FAA Aviation Safety Research Assessment Act of 2007 just days after the NTSB called on the FAA to act on these vital safety improvements and only a week after reports of increased overtime hours at the Blue Grass Airport, Congressman Chandler is pledging to continue pressing the FAA on these central concerns.

“We simply cannot afford to wait any longer for the FAA to act.  The FAA must be held accountable on their promises to bring added safety measures and equipment to airports across the nation.”

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