FAA Official Seeks Changes for Inspectors

By CHRISTOPHER CONKEY
Wall Street Journal
March 27, 2008; Page A4

WASHINGTON -- Amid rising concerns over lapses in airline maintenance, the nation's top aviation safety official says he wants to make it easier for federal inspectors to raise concerns even if their bosses object.

Nicholas Sabatini, the Federal Aviation Administration's associate administrator for aviation safety, says the proposed changes are designed to prevent a repeat of the situation that occurred at Southwest Airlines Co., which flew older 737s that were overdue for inspections with the blessing of an FAA supervisor who dismissed the concerns of lower-level inspectors. That episode has spawned federal investigations, a $10.2 million civil penalty, a series of industrywide audits and intense scrutiny of how dependent the FAA has become on industry cooperation to assess safety risks.

"I'm ultimately accountable for the Southwest issue," Mr. Sabatini said in an interview. "I don't step away from that responsibility." More important, he said, are the "lessons learned." "What this pointed out to us is the human risk," he said.

Mr. Sabatini is leading the FAA's effort to respond to concerns about airline safety inspections raised by the problems at Southwest and by a series of problems in the past few days.

In the latest incident, AMR Corp.'s American Airlines Wednesday canceled about 300 flights after an FAA-initiated audit raised what experts said were minor questions about electrical wiring. Delta Air Lines Inc. said Wednesday it would reinspect 133 of its own aircraft.

None of those incidents resulted in any injuries or accidents, but they reinforced anxiety over whether the airline industry can maintain safety standards.

Mr. Sabatini, who is scheduled to testify next week in Congress before Democrats who have been critical of the FAA, says he wants to assure travelers that financially strapped airlines aren't cutting corners on safety.

"We have reduced the accident rate to where it's the safest period ever in the history of aviation," he said. "The people in the air-carrier business know that they cannot afford to cut corners, particularly when they're under the microscope."

Mr. Sabatini said the changes he plans to institute will address tension between the FAA's unionized inspectors and the managers who oversee them. The new mechanism he is developing, tentatively dubbed the "Safety Information Reporting System," is aimed at preventing a repeat of the bureaucratic stifling of inspector's concerns that occurred at Southwest.

The new system, which may be announced formally in the week ahead, would make it harder for supervisors to overrule or dismiss potential safety issues raised by inspectors. Any disputes would be documented, labeled with a control number and elevated to a regional review board, Mr. Sabatini said. At that regional body, issues would be periodically reviewed to ensure they are resolved properly.

Mr. Sabatini's moves may not be enough to satisfy the FAA's critics. Tom Brantley, the president of the union representing most of the FAA's inspectors, characterized the internal changes Mr. Sabatini has planned as "only a small step where great strides are needed."

Empowering lower-level inspectors is a good thing, Mr. Brantley said, but he noted that recent safety disclosures only surfaced after inspectors aired their complaints outside the agency.

More broadly, attention next week will focus on the FAA's overall approach to ensuring safety compliance. In recent years, the agency has moved away from having inspectors conduct physical exams toward an electronic system almost completely reliant on data provided by the airlines themselves. Inspectors take their cues from software applications that analyze data and point to specific risks.

Mr. Sabatini, who started his long climb up the FAA ladder in 1979 as an airline inspector in Charleston, W.Va., says the new, data-driven system is superior to the tools he employed as an inspector in the early 1980s.

"Nick Sabatini in Charleston would, from his gut, say, 'I think I need to look here and I think I need to look there,'" he said. That approach was hit or miss, he suggested, and may even have unwittingly contributed to accidents.

But many congressional Democrats, inspectors and other critics say the FAA has become too reliant on the industry's cooperation. They say a tougher, more punitive approach is needed.

Industry officials say that characterization is simplistic. Some who have worked closely with Mr. Sabatini say he can be tough or accommodating depending on the situation.

"I wouldn't call him a pushover," said Joseph Kolshak, the chief operating officer of Midwest Airlines. "I've not always been pleased with the result of the things we've asked for."

At 72, Mr. Sabatini, a former policeman for the New York City Police Department, still keeps a vigorous schedule. He rides the train from Alexandria, Va., into Washington, eats instant oatmeal for breakfast in his office and has meetings under way by 7:30 a.m.

Although he has ordered extensive, industrywide inspections following the lapsed inspections at Southwest, Mr. Sabatini maintains the incident was an "aberration" that will ultimately improve aviation safety.

The inspector's union and some House Democrats say a broader problem exists.

Write to Christopher Conkey

Comments

[FAA Whistle Blower forced to resign]

Such a system was in place long before Sabatini. A simple "Grievance Procedure" required to be complied with by Law is all that is necessary. In my case Mr. Sabatini failed to respond in 7 years so far when it is required he contact me within 10 days. I suffered retaliation for filing that grievance and was forced to resign after 32 years of FAA unblemished performance and many awards to my credit.

FAA never did do business the way Sabatini describes in the 1980's. Inspections were well planned and done dating back to when I was hired in 1969. Such statement is despicable to all the professionals long before him.