FAA Covers Up Controller Mistakes, Falsely Blames Pilots
by Judd WileyMay 3rd, 2008, 3:16 pm
Mark my words: American citizens will die because of the stupidity of the Federal Aviation Administration.
A report by the Transportation Department’s inspector general, expected later this month, will detail how FAA managers at Dallas-Fort Worth intentionally covered up mistakes by air traffic controllers. Mistakes such as allowing planes to fly dangerously close together.
How did the FAA managers do it? They blamed the pilots. They falsely classified 62 “air traffic events” as “pilot deviation or non-events.” In reality, 52 were “operational errors” and 10 “operational deviations.” In regular English, this means the corrupt bastards tried to save their own skins.
How do we know all of this? A 51-year-old whistle blower, Anne Whiteman, who formerly worked at Dallas-Forth Worth as an air traffic controller, reported the string of cover ups. As a result, Whiteman had to endure threats, harassment, and intimidation from FAA colleagues and others.
In response to the public outcry over this whole mess, FAA officials have portrayed the Dallas-Fort Worth error-reporting cover up as an isolated incident. Of course they did.
Less mentioned is the FAA’s agency-wide bonus system that actually rewards employees for reduced operational errors. If you do your job and the planes land safely and nobody dies, you get a little prize. So FAA managers are incentived to cover up operational errors.
Believe me, there will be plenty more “air traffic events” and “operational errors.” Recall the analysis of Ray Adams, vice president of the air traffic controllers union at Newark International Airport, after a rash of near-collisions at Newark and JFK airports.
We are used to training people who have air-traffic experience. But now we have got kids coming off the street who have never worked an airplane in their life, know nothing about aviation, and we are trying to teach them from scratch.
The government, as always, making sure it fills critical positions with the best and brightest.
Again: American citizens will die because of the stupidity of the FAA.
Even the beard-scratching academics at the Washington Post agree. Today they published an angry editorial:
What gives with the Federal Aviation Administration? … We’re talking about letting planes fly too close to each other and other potentially dangerous mistakes. What incentive might there be for someone to put so many at risk?
Yeah! Go get ‘em, Washington Post! Make Woodward and Bernstein proud!
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Posted in Air Traffic Controllers, Airlines, Airports, Government Workers |
what a bunch of idiots. every time i’m on the runway, i’m worried that another plan will land right on top of me. it doesn’t have to be like this, if only we had competent people in charge. time for a house cleaning at FAA!