"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.