The Perils of Bureaucratic Inconsistency

On Monday, 06 February 2023, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed the assessing of a $1,149,306 civil penalty against United Airlines for conducting revenue flights in Boeing 777 aircraft the agency alleges were not in airworthy condition. Subject flights, according to the FAA, were undertaken between June 2018 and April 2021.

The FAA contends that during the specified period, United flight-crews failed to perform required inspections on the fire-detection systems of Boeing 777 wide-body airliners which collectively accounted for more than one-hundred-thousand flights. The FAA states United removed the fire-system warning check—a preflight task deemed compulsory in the aircraft’s maintenance manual—from its company Boeing 777 preflight check-list in 2018.

The removal of the fire-system check from United's 777 preflight checklist resulted in the companywide failure of the airline’s 777 flight-crews to perform the OEM-mandated safety inspections. Because FAA-issued Part 121 air-carrier Operation Specifications and FAA-approved Part 121 Operation Manuals oblige pilots to utilize company-developed aircraft checklists, the flight-crews cannot be held personally liable for the omission of the fire-system check from their preflight inspections. Ergo, the FAA’s enforcement action has been directed at United Airlines, not its 777 flight-crews.

A United Airlines spokesperson confirmed that safety is the carrier’s highest priority.

United acknowledged changing its pre-flight checklist in 2018, stating it did so to account for "redundant, built-in checks" performed automatically by the aircraft.

"The safety of our flights was never in question," the United spokesperson averred.

A second United representative asserted the FAA had reviewed and approved the carrier’s updated checklist at the time the change was made. Any amendments to Part 121 air-carrier operational protocols must, in point of fact, be approved and signed-off—most commonly by the carrier’s FAA—appointed Principal Operations Inspector (POI).

In a 06 February 2023 letter to United's CEO, the FAA stated that one of its aviation safety inspectors, on 19 April 2021, had determined United aircrews were not performing preflight checks of the fire-warning systems of company 777 aircraft.

By way of reply, the airline made clear that upon being notified of the matter, it had "immediately updated its procedures." The FAA, however, contended that United, even after having been advised of the alleged checklist oversight, had knowingly operated six of its 777s over a three-and-a-half year period without performing the fire-system check.

The FAA, since the early 2000s, has opted to address possible air-carrier safety shortfalls by collaborating with airlines for purpose of developing timely and effective fixes. The assessment of a million-plus-dollar fine against United Airlines occasions a sharp deviation from the kinder, gentler ethos to which the FAA has subscribed for nearly a quarter-century, and suggests a return to the more authoritarian tenor for which the agency was formerly infamous.

A popular anecdote among older pilots sets forth that the greatest lie ever told is: “I’m with the FAA; I’m here to help.”

FMI: www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/bullying