Word: faa
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...airlines also allege that the FAA is reneging on a promise not to publish the detailed results and name names. For decades safety experts--at the FAA and at the airlines--have kept some information to themselves to foster frank internal discussions of mistakes, near mistakes or problems, and to find ways to improve. (The practice is not unusual--hospitals and doctors, for instance, do likewise.) According to several people present at the July meeting, Nick Lacey, the FAA's head of flight standards, assured the airline reps that the audits would not be made public. Last week Lacey, through...
...When the FAA dribbled out preliminary results about each carrier last December, experts were stunned at some of the odd results that Lacey presented. For example, United, which has some of the most sophisticated safety-monitoring systems in the world, fared poorly. Experts familiar with United's safety program say the FAA's narrow checklist could not accurately assess the complexity or size of United's multiple systems. Other airlines got high marks for actions many experts consider largely symbolic, such as requiring the top safety officer to report directly to the airline...
...quality and experience of the FAA auditors were also questioned by the airlines. One examiner did not know how to define two parts of basic airline operations; another reportedly asked what a speed brake on a jet is--a question that nearly rivals asking which end of the plane goes forward...
...private meetings with airline officials over the past few weeks, FAA regulators have acknowledged that the audits had flaws and that mistakes were made. But the agency isn't backing down. "I understand that no one likes to be inspected," says Lacey, "and they may not like our findings. But I think airlines would agree that their safety programs are stronger today than before...
...Transport Association, the airline lobby based in Washington. In a statement to TIME, Wascom said, "A plan to release incomplete materials purporting to assess carrier performance against a nonspecific standard, before the carriers are allowed to fully respond to these issues, is fraught with difficulty for both the FAA and the industry." The FAA has taken no enforcement actions against any carrier for any violation...