She's Baaaack....

She's a former Transportation Department inspector general, who spent her six years with the agency calling out its leadership for inaction on safety issues. She left to write a scathing expose titled Flying Blind, Flying Safe. She's licensed to practice law in three states and the District of Columbia... and is one of the most visible and polarizing figures in the area of air safety.

And, two weeks after the downing of a regional turboprop in New York that claimed 50 lives... she's back. (Some may wonder how it possibly took her this long -- Ed.)

Mary Schiavo joined members of a group calling itself The National Air Disaster Alliance/Foundation Tuesday in announcing a federal lawsuit has been filed against DOT and FAA officials, alleging that a series of "deja vu disasters" have resulted from FAA inaction on the NTSB's annual list of "Most Wanted Transportation Safety Improvements."

The New Jersey Star-Ledger reports the group is an alliance of air-safety advocates and plane crash victims led by executive director, Gail Dunham. The lawsuit appears to have been prompted by the crash of Continental Connections Flight 3407, operated by Colgan Air, on approach to Buffalo in icing conditions the night of February 12.

Addressing several reports speculating pilot error may have been a factor in that accident, Schiavo said such talk by investigators is a scapegoat tactic. "There is a rush to say it is pilot error when it is not. ... In doing that, you often miss things about the manufacturers and the operations in general." She criticized investigations in which an understaffed NTSB relies on industry experts who have their own agendas.

FAA spokesman Les Dorr told the paper, "It would be premature for anyone to jump to a conclusion as to the cause of the accident just 10 days later. Rhetoric doesn't increase aviation safety. It's the hard work of people like those investigating the Buffalo accident that increase aviation safety.

"Certainly, if there is any information that comes out of the accident that suggests the FAA needs to take safety action, we will do it."

Dorr declined to discuss the lawsuit, but pointed out that the NTSB is free to make safety recommendations without regard to their feasibility or practicality.

FMI: www.ntsb.gov, www.planesafe.org/