"Heads Need To Roll Here"

A federal investigator is accusing the Federal Aviation Administration of not only hiding air traffic controller mistakes at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, but also for sometimes blaming pilots for those mistakes.

The allegations have come from the US Office of Special Counsel, which is an independent investigative agency responsible for protecting government whistle-blowers, according to the Associated Press.

Mistakes at DFW included a controller not telling a co-worker a plane had been cleared for takeoff, and planes flying too close together.

"The message needs to get out that we have a cavalier attitude about safety," said special counsel Scott Bloch. He said there is a "culture of laxness" at not only the FAA but the air traffic controllers' union, as well.

This report renews accusations that were levied in 2005 but never fixed, according to the investigator. The FAA insists all controller errors are properly reported.

National Air Traffic Controllers Association spokesman Doug Church said any failure to properly report any controller error lies not with the controllers, but their managers.

The FAA changed the way it classifies certain events last month, he said, to manipulate safety statistics, like allowing aircraft to come within 2.8 miles of each other instead of the required three miles.

The NATCA has long contended DFW suffers a severe controller shortage. It says 100 workers are required to properly manage the center and there are currently 68 controller and about 20 trainees. 

Bloch said he got information from interviews with two FAA whistle-blowers, other employees and a review of radar data, according to the AP.

He agreed with Church's statement that the FAA has manipulated error reporting to conceal its true safety record and reward those with the fewest mistakes which, he says, promotes financial gain over safety.

Anne Whiteman is a controller supervisor and one of the whistle-blowers. She says managers regularly classify controller mistakes as pilot errors. Since January, about 100 pilot errors have been reported at DFW -- a lot more than in previous years.

The other whistle-blower preferred to remain anonymous.

"The flying public can rest assured that the FAA thoroughly investigates every safety deviation, whether it was the result of controller or pilot error and closely tracks and addresses any pattern of errors," said the agency.

Bloch sent a letter and the report to Transportation Secretary Mary Peters Monday and directed the Transportation Department to launch an investigation and present its recommendations within 60 days.

Bloch said if safety violations were persistently ignored, "eventually you're going to have an air crash."

"Heads need to roll here," he said.

FMI: www.faa.gov, www.dot.gov, www.dfwairport.com, www.osc.gov