Comments on: FAA Management is Frightening, Not the Airlines

By: Don "Crude" Craig

Don "Crude" Craig — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:56:48 +0000

Steve Perry … do you think we are in a recession yet?

This has been building for years despite what you thought of GDP. It took this long to reach critical mass.

By: Jay

Jay — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:13:51 +0000

“Most business run in spite of management not because of it.” (B.Meana 1986)

By: 25 Year Air Traffic Controller

25 Year Air Traffic Controller — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 20:22:57 +0000

Nice post Bob!
I have never been more disgusted with my employer as I am now. The agency is treating its controllers with disdain, they pad the salaries of management while controller pay is frozen and do nothing to properly staff the nation’s towers and approach controls. The quality of the FAA management is frightening. Thankfully the controllers in this country are and will continue to hold the air traffic system together. No one will ever have to worry about dedication and professionalism of America’s air traffic controllers in spite of the best efforts of FAA management to screw them.

By: Don "Crude" Craig

Don "Crude" Craig — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:18:34 +0000

Mr. Mark what else can I say but THANK YOU! Best article I have ever seen outside the Main Bang and FAA Follies that explains things as they really are and not what they (FAA) wish for the public to hear “safety was never compromised”.

All it takes is one runway incursion to make a disaster, same thing with a operational error.

I bet the folks that lost their lives in LEX and their families wish that runway incursion hadn’t taken place. Comair took an incursion onto a unlit, too short, runway at night which happened to be the wrong runway from which they were assigned.

This meets the FAA definition of runway incursion:

“Any occurrence at an aerodrome involving the incorrect presence of an aircraft, vehicle, or person on the protected area of a surface designated for the landing and take off of aircraft.”

Comair had an incorrect presence on the runway they attempted takeoff.

The NAS is dying, thank goodness I got out when I did.

Don Craig – D10 escapee 12/26/06

By: PNS

PNS — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:14:24 +0000

The FAA (not surprisingly) has been very reflective of the Bush administration. They don’t care what the people want. They change rules when they want… no matter the law. They have negatively impacted the lives of many working class americans. They will go down in history as a disaster. The very bad part is that they will leave their positions of power and not be held to account. We will still be here struggling… because we don’t have a choice!

By: DAB

DAB — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:50:51 +0000

“Safety at a reasonable cost”. FAA is playing Russian Roulette with the flying public.

By: air traffic controller

air traffic controller — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 14:55:55 +0000

The prime directive in the Agency I work for (the FAA) is “make it look good.”

To this end, the Agency has reclassified a whole category of dangerous events (runway incursions and near midair collisions) so that what used to qualify as an Operational Error (OE) is now a Proximity Event (PE). Poof. Now we have fewer OEs!

By: D

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 13:49:41 +0000

I have been in the FAA for 17 years. I have never seen the incompetence that comes from this bunch. Not even close. They listen to the business minded bean counters and the polticos in DC that are only interested in theory (don’t have a clue how the system really works) and ideals. And trust me when i say their ideals have absolutely nothing to do with safety.

By: Bob H

Bob H — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:12:48 +0000

Good post Robert, I would like the opportunity to ask Sen. Oberstar if he could explain the difference between a Federal Aviation Regulation and a Statute.

I believe the general public would be surprised to know that the FAA can not enforce any regulatory decision they make without taking an owner, mechanic or operator of an aircraft to court and letting the court decide whose interpretation of the regulations are correct.

In other words a misguided Regulatory decision by the FAA that results in fines or loss of license privileges to a aircraft owner, mechanic or operator is little more than legalized extortion.

I just wish that those who have the postion to make everyone aware, would start by making themselves aware before they get on their soapboxes and scare the daylights out of those who have even less of an idea of what is going on than the person telling them.

By: rc

rc — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 12:33:22 +0000

Yea Mr. Perry, when it affects that fraction it makes a hell of a bang and fire show

By: faahope

faahope — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 21:24:47 +0000

Why only now are the airlines worrying about their planes?

If congress had not started an investigation on the South west incident no one would be the wiser, because the FAA was not going to make them take planes out of service because it would have made their numbers for delays and cancelations worse than it was last year. Why are we letting the Fox watch the hen house? The Fox(FAA) doesn’t care anything about lives only money.

Just look at “www.faahope.com” putting all vital radar systems in south Florida both high(ARTCC) and low(TRACON) 1.5 nautical miles apart. What a great idea for a backup system. I don’t think there is a business stupid enough to do that.

By: Mark T

Mark T — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:09:53 +0000

You have hit the nail on the head with this latest blog! The arrogance and incompetence that they display, has no one fooled, but themselves.

By: Jeff martin

Jeff martin — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 17:30:57 +0000

Mr. Marks, I find the timing of Delta and American’s cancellations kind of suspect. The FAA has been neglecting their oversight role for too long. The few safety inspectors have been trying to do their jobs only to be threatened and harassed by the FAA. The situation at Southwest becomes public and suddenly American and Delta take action? Sorry, but I have seen the results of the FAA being run like a business and this is all to familiar. The agency has been hiring executives from the airlines who treat the airlines like customers, not companies that require safety oversight and regulation. This is the result.

By: Robert Mark

Robert Mark — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:55:33 +0000

Interesting comment Steve, but I take issue with your recession comment.

Yes, you are correct that we do not meet the technical definition of a recession. But that doesn’t mean we are not experiencing a functional recession.

But the point of my piece was not really to discuss the state of the economy at a time when gas and food prices have soared while real estate values have taken a huge plunge and debt levels all around the national are enormous.

That’s probably a debate for another time.

FAA is very good at diverting people’s attention. Right now it’s their tough stance against the airlines now.

If your goal is safety, then yell at those operators.

But when FAA makes an example of Southwest with a $10M fine, as they did with a U.S. charter operator late last year for almost another $10M, that says defense to me, not offense.

FAA is trying to divert attention from their own internal problems … and there are many.

By: Steve

Steve — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:26:33 +0000

Rob,

From the latest article regarding Lou Dobb’s calling the FAA overworked professionals, it’s fairly clear you’re not the biggest fan of the current Executive Branch. Neither am I. I went through ATC CTI with the promise of the old pay scale, only to have OTS hiring start and pay slashed.

But the economy is not yet in a state of Recession. And it’s certainly not in a “deepening recession.” A recession is two consecutive quarters of GDP decline. Sorry to tell you (and Lou Dobbs, Keith Olberman, etc) but our GDP has actually increased over the last two quarters. It hasn’t increased at the astonishing, unsustainable rate it had been increasing at, but it’s not receding.

In an article denouncing the media’s hyperbole about the safety of airlines, you used some hyperbole about the safety of our economy. Aviation safety directly affects a fraction of Americans. The economy directly affects 99% of us.

- Steve Perry