Faults Agency For Bungling Of Airline Maintenance Issues

A new report from the Inspector General of the US Department of Transportation says that even after this spring's embarrassing public spectacle over the FAA's handling of airline maintenance and safety issues, the agency isn't ensuring full investigations when its safety inspectors find problems.

The Dallas Morning News reports the IG's report recommends the FAA establish an internal, independent watchdog agency to address concerns raised by its inspectors.

The IG called the current hierarchy, in which inspectors bring problems directly to top agency officials, "...unequivocally ineffective and possibly even biased against resolving root causes of serious safety lapses."

The review by the IG came after congressional investigators followed up on tips from whistle-blowers in the Dallas area, and found potentially serious safety lapses in the maintenance program of Southwest Airlines. Those same tipsters said they were stonewalled from further investigation by Dallas-area FAA managers, who had become too cozy with the carrier.

When the story finally broke containment, the FAA pounced on Southwest, levying a record $10.2 million fine in March for violations that included flying jets overdue for inspections of their fuselages for fatigue cracking. Five jets were later found to actually have cracks. Internally, the FAA reassigned or suspended several officials who'd failed to enforce the regulations.

Since the Southwest scandal, the FAA has adopted a policy that prohibits FAA inspectors from going to work for airlines they previously regulated. The Inspector General wanted inspectors rotated on a regular basis to prevent them from getting too tight with airline management, but the FAA has balked at that idea.

FMI: www.oig.dot.gov