Word: alaskas
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...audit blitz began in the aftermath of the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 in January 2000. That airline not only had a widely admired safety record but also was operating under the careful view of the FAA's most rigorous oversight program, the Air Transportation Oversight System (ATOS). After the crash, the FAA rushed to discover what went wrong with its oversight as well as with the airplane's mechanical systems. Immediate changes were ordered in Alaska Airlines' operations...
...Alaska Airlines accident, which probably occurred because a mechanical failure caused the pilots to lose control of the plane, cast a harsh light on the agency's failings as well as the airline's. After the crash, the FAA's officials found that the agency had not fulfilled its fundamental responsibility of supervising Alaska. It uncovered 150 cases in which aircraft maintenance could not be documented. The Alaska crash came less than a year after the General Accounting Office had sharply criticized the effectiveness of the ATOS and suggested that the FAA not expand the program until it was changed...
Last December an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board into the Alaska crash further detailed the failures of the FAA's supervision and staff. "The Alaska crash raised the question: If the FAA can't keep track of the smallest airline in ATOS, what can it keep track of?" says Bob Francis, who was vice chairman of the NTSB until 1999. Two weeks ago, 13 families who lost loved ones on Flight 261 filed a claim against the FAA for negligence for its failure to oversee Alaska...
...concrete evidence of Alaska-type problems at other carriers when it announced late last June that it would audit four safety systems at each of the nine other top airlines. It cited only unspecified "concerns." The other carriers audited--United, Delta, American, Continental, Northwest, US Airways, Southwest, America West and TWA--were, like Alaska, already participating in ATOS. "We had no real problems with the concept of the FAA coming in," notes John Marshall, head of safety for Delta Airlines...
...after meeting with FAA officials in July, the airlines concluded that the agency wanted to rush to complete the audits before the NTSB public hearing on the Alaska crash. Reason? To project the impression that the agency was on top of any problems when the NTSB came down with its expected criticism in the fall...