Congressman Led Crackdown On FAA Inspection Process

Minnesota Congressman James Oberstar has led the charge against the Federal Aviation Administration, calling on the agency to more strictly regulate its own procedures governing the oversight of US domestic carriers. His name also is synonymous with recent FAA action -- some would say overreaction -- concerning those airlines' compliance with safety procedures and inspections, which resulted in thousands of flight cancellations over the past month.

And, judging from Oberstar's comments in a recent interview with Newsweek, he'd do it again in a heartbeat. Oberstar -- who serves as chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure -- says he has no regrets about forcing the FAA to take a close look at airline safety, even when that has resulted in cancellations at carriers including Southwest, Delta, and most recently, American.

"Safety should always be valued first [over convenience]," Oberstar said. "In the years before September 11, aircraft were routinely pulled out of service for different checks. That's one of the reasons the airlines had extra aircraft to bring into service while others were undergoing a D-check, which is an entire maintenance overhaul. So airlines knew they had to have airlines in reserve to cover their responsibilities to air travelers.

"But after September 11, the domestic airlines retired some 20 percent of their fleet. And then the period of bankruptcy took even more aircraft out of service. So their margin of capacity is very thin. Their load factor is very high, their yield is very high. But when they have to conduct maintenance that means sometimes having to pull aircraft out of service. That is a fleet management issue for the airlines."

Oberstar acknowledged his office first received word last summer, from an FAA whistleblower, about skipped inspections for fuselage fatigue and rudder operation at Southwest Airlines. "He said that there were airlines flying well beyond the dates established under the Airworthiness Directive [a notice sent to plane operators by the FAA about proper functioning and maintenance of equipment]," Oberstar says. "He told us he had not only been rebuffed but also told to keep his mouth shut.

"...He brought information and I reviewed it with staff, and I asked for further documentation," the lawmaker continued. "I asked for very meticulous information on every issue raised by at first one, but as it turned out five courageous whistle blowers. It took us months to evaluate all the claims and gather documentation to back it all up. Earlier this year, we were ready to go ahead."

Disconcertingly, Oberstar believes commercial airline passengers haven't seen the end of flight cancellations, stemming from checks airlines failed to perform in a timely manner.

"I think this will go on for a while as airlines realign themselves and the FAA adjusts its attitude to be rigorous with the airlines and not partners with them, not treating them as customers," Oberstar said. "I think we can expect more aircraft being pulled out of service because they weren't inspected when they should have been... [airlines] have to do a vastly better job of scheduling their aircraft for maintenance so that work can be done without inconveniencing the traveling public.

"It's now reached a crisis point beyond the inspection dates that they've had to take large numbers of aircraft out of service in order to conduct the inspections that should have been done on a routine basis," Oberstar concluded.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.house.gov/oberstar/