Safety Meltdown

Americans are accustomed to images of packed airports, delayed flights and masses of weary passengers, especially around the holidays. But the past few weeks have been different. This time it was a matter of safety--and charges that the Federal Aviation Administration has gotten too cozy with the industry it regulates.

Starting with the revelation that Southwest Airlines was behind on safety inspections, the FAA ordered a national audit. Before long, thousands of flights had been cancelled as the nation's biggest carriers scrambled to comply with inspection requirements. Lawmakers on Capital Hill rounded up FAA administrators for hearings on what went wrong and what other safety issues, if any, haven't yet been addressed.

Leading the pressure is Democratic congressman James Oberstar, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, which regulates the FAA. Oberstar spoke with NEWSWEEK's Daniel Stone about the airline crisis. Excerpts.

NEWSWEEK: What's the real timing behind these increased inspections and the new focus on aviation safety?
Rep. James Oberstar: We got information last summer from a whistleblower who came to the committee's staff and said, "I've tried within the system to correct the course to require the airlines to do these inspections, in a timely fashion." He said that there were airlines flying well beyond the dates established under the Airworthiness Directive [a notice sent to plane operators by the FAA about proper functioning and maintenance of equipment]. He told us he had not only been rebuffed but also told to keep his mouth shut. Now that's wrong, and he told us that for several years he hadn't been able to get the attention of congress because there isn't an overall mindset. He brought information and I reviewed it with staff, and I asked for further documentation. I asked for very meticulous information on every issue raised by at first one, but as it turned out five courageous whistle blowers. It took us months to evaluate all the claims and gather documentation to back it all up. Earlier this year, we were ready to go ahead.

Did FAA officials have any indication you were looking into those accusations?
Throughout the process, the FAA became quite aware of our probing and digging. They began to leak information favorable to their cause. So before I went into the Mayo clinic for a hip surgery in early March, I had a news conference to lay out the principle issues we had uncovered, followed by FAA's imposition on a $10 million fine on Southwest and then several steps that FAA took. They sent a special team to investigate Southwest. Then, Southwest put a few employees on administrative leave and the next day they grounded 41 aircraft that should have been inspected long ago. So we've just had a cascade of inspection events.

At this point, the FAA seems to be complying. Do you think it's genuine or a dramatic demonstration to make up for work that wasn't done?
On the part of FAA administrator Nicholas Sabatini, I think he is a general safety professional, but I don't know all of what has gone on within the FAA, what direction he's had from upper level management. He can trace a good deal of this slippage to a speech by Marion Blakey, who was also a FAA administrator, in 2002 commenting on the precarious economic conditions of the airlines and the need for FAA to work with them. That may have been the beginning of a shift in attitude that led to a regulatory partnership program and to the customer service initiative long after Ms. Blakey left. Clearly there's been a drift away from their role described in the FAA Act of 1958 that says in the opening paragraph: "Safety in aviation should be maintained at the highest possible level."