Word: faa
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...average about 200 annually. (By contrast, roughly 120 people die each day on America's roads.) Instead, the folks in the cockpits, watchtowers and administration offices moan about the weather disruptions and equipment breakdowns that cause 250,000 delays annually and cost billions of dollars. "We're on the FAA all the time to modernize," says Tim Neale of the Air Transport Association, which represents the industry in Washington. "But it's definitely not a safety problem; it's a cost problem...
Controllers trace the troubles back to 1981, the year Ronald Reagan decided to break their union rather than meet its demands for better pay, benefits and safety measures. The FAA fired all 11,000 striking controllers, then contracted with IBM to deliver a system of high-tech computers that would rule the skies. "Rather than incremental changes, they tried to reinvent the system," says Mike Connor, NATCA's director of safety and technology. "They were trying to computerize everything, but you can't computerize human reasoning or decision making." After investing $2 billion and watching the projected costs balloon from...
...ANTONIO: The FAA may not approve of a TWA pilot's newest safety technique, but it's hard to quarrel with success. Late Tuesday, when Flight 199 was 15 miles southwest of the San Antonio International Airport, a cockpit light indicated that the tail stairwell door of the Boeing 727 had fallen open about two feet. (The 70 or so passengers would have noticed even faster but for a bulkhead between the gaping hole and their compartment.) Incredibly, the crew wasted no time in selecting one of its number to fix the problem. "They did use a rope and tied...
...year after USAir Flight 427 plunged from the sky near Pittsburgh, killing all 132 people aboard, the National Tranportation Safety Board will stage tests that might explain what triggered the 6,000-ft. nose dive, TIME's Jerry Hannifin reports. (The first test was schedule for today at the FAA's Flight Technical Center near Atlantic City, but was delayed because of bad weather.) Hannifin says the NTSB, under considerable pressure to solve the mystery behind the worst air disaster since 1987, is exploring an aeronautical phenomenon called wake vortex. Under a long-suspected scenario, the Boeing 737 jet might...
...Technological glitches wreaked havoc not only in Fremont but also in Miami, where an air-traffic-control center lost power for an hour because of a lightning strike. Both sorts of delay no doubt enraged stranded passengers; but slowdowns are usually proof of caution. Says Linda Hall Daschle, the FAA deputy administrator: "In every case, priority No. 1 is the safety of the flying public. We will sacrifice efficiency for safety's sake...