McClatchy: More FAA whistle-blowers begin to come forward

[babylonsister]

More FAA whistle-blowers begin to come forward
By Dave Montgomery | McClatchy Newspapers

* Posted on Friday, April 11, 2008



WASHINGTON — More Federal Aviation Administration whistle-blowers are beginning to step forward with fresh allegations of a "culture of complacency" between the FAA and the airlines industry, the head of the government agency charged with investigating whistle-blower complaints said Friday.

The complaints under investigation by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel may widen attacks on the besieged regulatory agency. But with the FAA under scrutiny by Congress and government investigators, while hundreds of thousands of passengers reel from massive flight cancellations, the big question remains: How could this have happened?

The FAA was created in 1958 as an independent watchdog over airline safety. But instead the 46,000-employee agency is falling down on the job through a cozy relationship with the industry that has led to a years-long pattern of benign enforcement, say a parade of critics.

Over the past week, much of the flying public found itself grounded as American Airlines and other carriers abruptly canceled nearly 3,000 flights to make inspections and repairs that the FAA mandated. The unprecedented cancellations generated assertions that the FAA was overcompensating for past enforcement lapses. FAA officials vigorously deny that perception.

"This is not something sudden that just came up," FAA spokeswoman Lynn Tierney said Friday in restating the agency's 50-year-old pledge to enforce safety in the skies. FAA officials says they're moving to correct internal problems and call this "the safest period in aviation history," with only two major U.S. air crashes over the past seven years.

more...

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/33439.html

[hootinholler]

1. Interesting.

Explains the Whistleblower protection fliers on the bulletin boards that have appeared lately.

-Hoot

[spanone]

2. i think the whole american airlines fiasco is the faa covering it's ass trying to look tough

while they are the one that let the inspections lapse

[tbyg52]

3. Riddled with cronies, no doubt

It's gonna take a long time to undo the damage to the government agencies that are supposed to be working for the people.