What’s going on with all the airline incidents and the FAA?
Acting Administrator creates safety review team
There have been a series of frighteningly close calls at several airports. Jetliners nearly collided on runways and a jet that dipped toward the ocean after a Hawaiian takeoff are among the most serious. Many flyers have been asking, “what is going on?”
All this comes as the FAA is recovering from a computer problem that resulted in the first nationwide ground stop since the September 11th attacks in 2001. The acting Administrator of the FAA was called to Congress to discuss that problem. Billy Nolen, and his agency, knew he would be questioned about all these recent safety incidents. The night before his testimony, Nolen announced he would form a Safety Panel to examine if there is something amiss in our aviation system.
“SAFE”
Sitting before the US Senate Commerce Committee this week, Nolen said, “We are experiencing the safest period in aviation history, but we do not take that for granted. Recent events remind us that we cannot and must not become complacent and must continually invest in our aviation system.” He says this panel of labor and aviation leaders will look at the, “US Aerospace Systems structure, culture processes, systems and integration of safety effort.” That didn’t stop the questions from Senators.
Any review of aviation safety is a good idea. While the investigations into all these recent incidents are still underway, at first glance they do not appear to be connected except for one factor. They all seem to involve human error. In a couple events, pilots may not have followed instructions. In another, it could have been an air-traffic controller who may have made a mistake. United Airlines won’t say a lot about the 777 that dipped more than 1,000 feet toward the ocean other than the fact that the crew is undergoing, “additional training.” That suggests there may not have been anything wrong with the jet.
The fact is that while many of these near-collisions were scary, someone, in each incident, averted tragedy. The safety system, which was pushed beyond comfort, did work. The FAA safety panel will try to figure out if there is something in training or aviation culture that is not working.
NO CONNECTION YET
I’ve been talking to former airline pilot and aviation analyst John Nance since I was a reporter in Seattle in the “80’s and 90’s.” We then worked together at ABC News where he is still explaining aviation to the audience. So is flying still safe? “Just from the numbers you are far more in danger driving to or from the airport than you are flying, even in the worst case on a commercial airliner,” he told me.
Over the decades the aviation business has gone through a lot of changes that have dramatically improved the safety record. “The only reason that we have achieved that is because we learned to deal with human error. And we learned to expect it,” Nance said, adding, “If that system in any way form or fashion is slipping a little bit here or there, there's not enough training.”
HUMAN ERROR
Billy Nolen told Senators much the same thing. “Can I say to the American public that we are safe? The answer is that we are,” Nolen said. But, he too added, “If the question is can we be better? The answer is absolutely.”
The reason Nolen appeared was the failure of the Notice to Air Missions computer system that caused that nationwide ground stop. It’s a 30-year-old system that the FAA is in the middle of replacing. Nolen revealed that 80% of the NOTAM users are on the new system that has been being assembled for 10 years. But when the computer on the old system went down, Nolen felt it was better to order a full ground stop until the computer was back up.
FAA FUNDING
Some observers have argued for years that FAA funding needs to be consistent and not part of continuing resolutions. We heard the two sides of FAA funding during the Senate hearing. The chair, Washington State’s Maria Cantwell, argued more money may be needed. “Over the last several years Congress has met or exceeded the administration's budget request for the FAA facilities at NOTAM. But Mr. Nolen will talk today about additional funds, why Congress needs to paint a clearer picture about the needs of our Airspace System for the future.”
The ranking Republican on the committee, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, had a different view. “This ground stop was the result of the federal agency’s inability to modernize, despite Congress providing the required resources to do so,” he said.
Everyone on Cantwell’s committee is for aviation safety. The questions are how do we improve safety and how much will it cost?
As uncomfortable as it may sound, replacing a first officer with a robot might help avoid human error (until it doesn’t). The captain could always override. Says the wife of a retired pilot.