And They're Working On That Other Two Percent

The results are in following an FAA audit of US airline compliance with Airworthiness Directives, announced in April... and the agency says the results are encouraging.

Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell said Friday FAA inspectors found an overall compliance rate of 98 percent in more than 5,600 audits of Airworthiness Directives (ADs) at US air carriers. In the remaining two percent of the audits, the carriers resolved the issues of noncompliance before the airplanes flew again.

"This audit gives us confidence that, overall, the system is safe and in almost every instance the airlines are complying with our safety directives," Sturgell said.

As ANN reported, the agency's reinvigorated pursuit of airline safety came after two inspectors blew the whistle on the too-friendly relationship between FAA officials tasked to oversee maintenance compliance at Southwest Airlines, and that carrier's management. Minnesota Congressman James Oberstar, who has spearheaded Congressional hearings on the matter, termed that relationship "a culture of coziness," which resulted in FAA inspectors allowing Southwest to skirt mandatory fuselage fatigue inspections on its older Boeing 737 models.

In March, the FAA hit the Dallas-based low-cost carrier with a record $10.2 million fine, that the airline has yet to pay. Inspectors also found discrepancies with compliance at Delta, United, and American.

Two FAA employees remain on administrative leave related to the alleged glad-handing at Southwest, pending the results of investigations by the DOT Inspector General. A third employee under investigation opted to retire.

A management official in the Southwest Airlines CMO was transferred from that office to the Southwest region. A fifth employee, also a management official, has received a letter of proposed action.

Alleged noncompliance in the audits fell into five categories: instances where the air carrier could not show compliance with the AD; cases where additional records were needed to prove compliance; cases where the air carrier did the work, but had to apply for an alternate means of compliance approval; situations where the AD work was not done, but the airplane was not flying; other minor discrepancies not involving ADs.

The FAA stressed all noncompliance issues were corrected before the airplanes flew again, and the FAA is investigating to determine if enforcement actions are warranted.

"Even with this tremendous level of safety and compliance, we have work to do," Sturgell added. "We’re focusing on the language of our directives to make sure they are clear, concise and unambiguous, and we’re working with industry to approve work in progress before the compliance date."

Sturgell also gave a progress report on new safety initiatives announced in April:

• Safety Issues Reporting System — Complete
• Voluntary Disclosure Reporting Program Approvals — Complete
• Ethics Policy Enhancement — In progress; proposed rule expected next summer
• Aviation Safety and Analysis Sharing Program expansion — In progress
• Independent Review Team — Complete; with Secretary Peters for review
• Airworthiness Directive Review — In progress

FMI: Read More About The Audit Results, And The FAA's Audit Program