Washington Ways: March 2008 Archives

Capitol Hill’s leading aviation expert went on the attack against the FAA after the agency proposed its largest-ever safety fine- $10.2 million - against Southwest Airlines. Jim Oberstar, the House Transportation Committee’s chairman, told reporters, “Complacency has likely set in at the highest levels of FAA.” He said at a news conference that “we’ve seen the pendulum swing away from vigorous enforcement of compliance toward a carrier-favorable, cozy relationship with the airlines.” A veteran of more than three decades on transportation issues in the House and the author of laws about FAA inspections, Oberstar has long been allied with airline and aerospace labour. And he has been a frequent critic of the FAA. Oberstar says that his committee was conducting an investigation of the Southwest issue - specifically, charges that the Dallas-based carrier misled the FAA about inspections for fuselage cracks - after FAA whistleblowers came forward. The FAA then scooped him by announcing the proposed fine and leaking the news of the penalty to the media before the committee could hold a scheduled hearing. “It’s not a coincidence” that the FAA acted when it did, and it’s "outrageous" that the agency did not respond to the whistleblowers, he said. Oberstar also said he'd have to postpone the hearing anyway, because he was about to be hospitalised for hip-replacement surgery.