The Federal Aviation Administration doesn’t have a bad track record, but, as with most government bureaucracy, they aren’t the best either.  
    If you really look into the details of these groundings, you see that Southwest violated the inspection policies of the FAA back in March of 2007. That means many of these planes have been flying for over a year without a proper inspection.  
    There are also allegations that the FAA accepted, without question, falsified inspection reports from Southwest. Is any of this surprising?  
    Back before 9/11, a government study was performed on airline security and improvements were pointed out.  Did the government do anything to improve airline security? Not until a major problem occurred.  That is the way things usually go – if there is a major crash or incident, then the government gets motivated.  Even then, the government is too big and top heavy to really adjust to the environment.  Of course, you throw in politicians and that only makes things worse.
    Southwest isn’t the only airline that has grounded planes and is under the gun for not performing the required inspections.  So who is the real villain?  Is it the airline industry, Boeing the airplane manufacture, or the FAA?
    I guess we can start off blaming the FAA, but I don’t think we will get very far.  
    How is this government agency supposed to do its job with the resources it has and the layers of bureaucracy it requires?  The FAA is claiming that their inspection paperwork requirements might be confusing the airline industry. If you look at any government paperwork, I would probably agree.
    How do government agencies get things so complicated? It looks to me like we could have a simple check list of the required items to be inspected and the industry shouldn’t have to have a bound book for each inspection.
    If you want another scary thought, look at the US Government Accountability Office’s assessment of the FAA and the nation’s air traffic control systems. The news is discouraging. The FAA is not able to keep up or modernize the nation’s air traffic control systems fast enough to alleviate delays and air traffic problems and to make sure the skies are safe for all travelers.
    So, is anyone really surprised the FAA can’t keep track of maintenance schedules?
    Should we blame the airline industry? Maybe a little but they are like every other industry. They want less regulations and rules.
    Of course, they are ultimately responsible to the consumer. If air travel is not safe, the airlines will not have any passengers and will go out of business.  
    It is pretty amazing how quick the public will respond to the changing environment. If you don’t believe me, look at American automobile manufactures.

-Bill Weaver

“I have had it with these mother****ing snakes on this mother****ing plane!”
~Samuel L. Jackson

    In the next couple of weeks, travelers can be expected to face extraordinary delays and numerous cancellations. 
    There are a lot of reasons why this is happening, but it really just comes down to the marriage between the FAA and the airlines breaking down.  The question is, while mommy and daddy are fighting, where does that leave the customer?  Rest assured though, it’s not your fault; the fact that they both hate you is unrelated.
    After the crisis of 9/11 where Saddam sent his crack troops to blow up the twin towers,  American faith in the airlines was shaken and profits were quite down.
    To help the airlines regain consumer trust, they took a quick fix. They became more lax on how soon the airlines needed to repair problems. 
    Also, whistle blowing became more discouraged then it was beforehand. This fact, along with increasing fuel costs, have encouraged the airlines to cut more corners with the FAA looking the other way the entire time.
    The recent disruption of the airlines was prompted by countless whistle blowers all deciding to jump at the same time.
    This is part of an interesting phenomenon.
    Whistle blowing is a complicated process. If someone jumps alone then, likely, nothing happens and they get blacklisted. If, on the other hand, one waits too long to jump, they run the risk of being indicted and possible jail time.  But, if a bunch of people jump at the right time they look like rock stars and their careers take off.
    All hail government morality.

-Jonathan Taft 

    The FAA and the Airline industry have their history. Over the past several years, the once feared administration has turned into a soft, flabby, shadow of its former self. Recently, however, it seems to be turning away from the cozy relationship it has with the airline industry after getting caught being lazy and lax.
    You might have heard of this in the news or been affected by it yourself. It has caused over 3000 flights to be canceled over a period of a few days.
   
    During the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, the FAA and the airline industries had a policy of self regulation.
    If the airline industry reported a problem and promised to fix it, they wouldn’t get in trouble or fined. A policy like this would be ok if someone was actually checking up on if the airlines followed through.
    The FAA began becoming laxed on their inspections; some inspectors were even fired if they tried to bring up glaring safety issues. This is what started the downward spiral in the FAA effectiveness.
    A congressional oversight committee got on to the FAA after some of its inspectors reported that severe problems, like cracks in the plane, were noticed but not taken care of. 
    Now they have done a completely, and in my opinion necessary, 360 on their policies. Two weeks ago the FAA grounded all MD-80’s so they could be inspected. This was a major pain to American Airlines whose fleet contains around 300 of them. 
    Why were they grounded? Wiring in the aircraft that passed near the wheels was not secure enough. There was a danger of it rubbing together and catching fire.
    American Airlines said that they could have fixed it in a week without having to ground the entire fleet of MD-80s, but they have known that it needed to be fixed since 2006, when it was discussed for the first time. It seems that they should have been fixing it sooner.
    Now the real question is, should the FAA have this much power? Unlike buses or cars, you can’t pull off to the side of the road if you start to hear a funny noise coming from the engine. Also, airline crashes have a higher fatality rate than do auto accidents.
    So, like car inspections and food inspections, I believe airline inspections should be able to take decisive action in keeping people safe. Airplane saftey does not only affect the customers of the airline industry, but, if mismanaged, it could also affect people on the ground as well. 

-Eleanor M. Wyatt