NYT Makes Case For NASA's Withholding Of Safety Survey

Last year, passengers flew 760 million times on airline flights in the United States, with just one death -- a mechanic who fell while trying to close the door of a parked Boeing 737.

Flying is safer than passengers think, according to FAA statistics... which is likely why the National Aeronautics and Space Administration is reluctant to release a safety survey noting more incidents of near-misses and bird strikes, The New York Times postulates.

As ANN reported, NASA refused to release the results of a survey of 8,000 commercial pilots that sought to track safety problems and determine if they were worsening. The reason being, the agency didn't want to scare anyone.

The Associated Press sought the same data under the Freedom of Information Act. In refusing to turn it over, NASA told the AP releasing the data "could materially affect the public confidence in, and the commercial welfare of, the air carriers and general aviation companies whose pilots participated in the survey."

NASA’s response is nothing new for the federal government... which has traditionally said as little as possible about the safety of individual airports or airlines.

The Federal Aviation Administration was originally founded in part to promote aviation -- though in 1996, Congress removed that mission because it conflicted with the agency’s role as a regulator. But there still is tension that remains in cases where data might raise public apprehension about air travel.

Some economists have been able to quantify that fear. After Pan Am 103 was bombed over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988, trans-Atlantic passenger traffic fell by 20 percent in the next year. The FAA published that figure in a risk/benefit analysis in July 2001 to justify the rule.

The FAA justifies the benefit of keeping bombs off planes so travelers won’t be frightened into staying at home; they call it "the known reaction of Americans to any aircraft operator disaster."

The Times reports the FAA plans to change the way it compiles statistics on aviation-related deaths. Only passengers and members of the crew will be counted. Mechanics have been eliminated from the tabulation... which, the agency believes, should paint a safer picture of the industry.

FMI: www.nasa.gov, www.faa.gov