ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 1, 1996 TAG: 9605010069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Airline passengers' safety too often depends on poorly trained inspectors and a mismanaged computer system, industry officials and congressional investigators asserted Tuesday.
Some of the criticism came from behind a screen, as two industry officials testified anonymously before a Senate subcommittee, saying they feared retribution if they identified themselves.
Some came from government officials, armed with published reports containing the same warnings.
``As a loyal civil servant, the term `whistleblower' has always carried the connotation of disloyalty,'' said an FAA inspector identified as ``Mr. Smith.'' ``But conditions now exist that require me to remember that my oath of office was taken not to the agency but to the people of the nation.''
An FAA inspector identified as ``Mr. Smith'' said inadequate training is jeopardizing public safety. He was trained to inspect small aircraft and asked for additional training when he was assigned to larger planes but was turned down, he said.
``Mr. Jones,'' an aviation consultant who used to work for an airline, testified that most FAA inspectors were easily snowed by airlines' attempts to hide problems.
``If there's not a problem, they don't go looking for it,'' he said. ``The airline wings could be falling off, but as long as the paperwork is all right, they don't care. So we make the paperwork look right,'' he said.
These are not isolated cases, said Sen. William Cohen, R-Maine, chairman of the Governmental Affairs subcommittee on oversight of government management. He said his staff interviewed more than 40 FAA inspectors and more than 100 other officials who made similar comments.
Cohen and others complained that the FAA determines which airplanes to inspect based on a computer system that is riddled with inaccuracies. Inspectors do not consistently report violations, and the FAA needs to give inspectors specific guidelines for what to review.
``Without minimum standards, we have little confidence that inspections are more than cursory reviews that lack substance and provide little assurance that safety requirements are being met,'' said Lawrence H. Weintrob, a deputy assistant inspector general for the Transportation Department.
``At the very extreme, we observed inspections that consisted of nothing more than a walk around the aircraft looking for leaking fluids,'' said Lawrence H. Weintrob, a deputy assistant inspector general for the Transportation Department.
FAA Administrator David R. Hinson countered that the FAA has increased the number of inspectors and said officials are working to correct the computer system's problems. And he said the FAA is redefining what constitutes ``essential training'' and plans to make more available.
LENGTH: Medium: 58 linesby CNB