|
WASHINGTON - Aviation safety would be strengthened by a bill introduced Tuesday by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-MN), committee ranking Republican John Mica (R-FL), Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jerry Costello (D-IL), and subcommittee ranking Republican Tom Petri (R-WI).
The bill addresses issues raised by Federal Aviation Administration whistleblowers and others at a Committee hearing on April 3. Among the criticisms leveled at the agency was that it had become too friendly with the airlines it regulates, allowing them to continue to fly aircraft that were past safety inspection deadlines. The hearing resulted in hundreds of planes being grounded and flights canceled as the airlines scrambled to bring their aircraft inspections up to date.
Petri said that despite concerns, the nation's airline safety record deserves praise. "The FAA and the airline industry have done well, but that doesn't mean we can relax," he said. "It's great that the airlines have avoided any recent fatalities, but that's not good enough as long as there are close calls in the air and the possibility of shortcuts in maintenance. This bill is designed to make a safe system measurably safer."
The bill would:
* Create an independent Aviation Safety Whistleblower Investigation Office to investigate safety complaints;
* Direct the FAA to modify its operations to classify the flying public as its "customers" rather than the air carriers and other entities which are regulated by the agency;
* Require federal employees who leave the FAA to be subject to a two-year "cooling off" period during which they would be unable to accept positions with air carriers where they would be representing carriers in communications with the FAA on pending safety matters;
* Require the FAA to rotate principal maintenance inspectors between airline oversight offices every five years in order to limit overly friendly relationships between the regulators and those regulated;
* Require the FAA to implement monthly reviews of the Air Transportation Oversight System database to spot and respond to trends in regulatory compliance.
|
