CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU (Werner Uhrig) (03/18/86)
[ from the Austin American Statesman - March 18, 1986, page A5 ]
FAA accused of lying about diminishing flight safety
[ by Greg McDonald - Cox News Service ]
WASHINGTON - A House subcommittee accused the Federal Aviation Administration
Monday of ignoring the "declining margin of safety" in the nation's air traffic
control system and of lying about wether the system has improved since the 1981
strike.
The blistering criticism came as the House Public Works and Transportation
subcommittee on investigations opened hearings on a General Accounting Office
report that recommends an immediate cutback in airline schedules to relieve
overworked controllers at many of the nation's largest air traffic centers,
including Atlanta and Chicago.
Virtually every subcommittee member described the report as the most
significant and revealing to date on the status of the air traffic control
system because it was based on a survey of about 5,000 FAA controllers and
supervisors. Most agreed with the accounting office view that, contrary to
FAA claims, flight safety has diminished significantly since 1981, when
President Reagan fired about 12,000 striking controllers.
...[the system] is nearing "the breakpoint" because an understaffed and
inexperienced controller workforce ......FAA management can no longer be
trusted to provide Congress with an accurate assessment of problems ....
.."It's bad - it's not safe," said Molinari, the subcommittee's acknowledged
authority on the air-traffic control system. "I see a system that's growing
dangerously weaker and weaker in every area... I'd like to see us make changes
now. I'd hate to see us wait until tragedy occurs."
[ for full text, check your local paper .... ---Werner ]
-------good@pixar (Craig Good: Pixar Music Video Division) (03/20/86)
When, oh when, will the Feds get it through their heads that more control and more controllers doesn't make it any safer? I seriously wonder how many people they are going to kill with these ARSA monstrosities. And when, oh when, will people stop saying that Reagan fired the controllers? They quit. He merely accepted their resignations. And I don't miss a one of them. So there. --Craig ...ucbvax!pixar!good ps: General Aviation had it's safest year yet in 1985...