FAA History Lesson -- April 30

From the FAA Historical Chronology, 1926-1996...

”Apr 30, 1975: The Secretary's Task Force on the FAA Safety Mission (see Jan 28, 1975) submitted its report. The Task Force commended FAA for having reestablished a no-fault aviation safety reporting program (see Apr 8, 1975), and made recommendations including:

* That FAA should continue to rely on industry for safety compliance inspections required in the certification process, but should strengthen its technical staff and improve its ability to monitor the performance of those delegated safety responsibilities. In addition, FAA should insist on more comprehensive design reviews in major aircraft and engine certification.

* That FAA should conduct audits in cooperation with the National Transportation Safety Board to ensure that problems cited by NTSB were worked out satisfactorily.

* That FAA's rulemaking process, judged too slow, should be expedited by means of a priority system; the agency should also improve the clarity of the rules themselves and speed up their legal review. * That FAA should take steps, including use of flight data monitoring systems, to improve aircrew performance.

* That air traffic controllers should give more attention to preventing collision with the ground, and that a standing group of FAA and aviation community representatives should review air traffic control procedures with the aim of increasing clarity and standardization.

* That FAA should continue as part of the Department of Transportation, but should not be subject to undue supervision by the Office of the Secretary.

* That an intensive review should be made of the FAA headquarters organization with the object of reducing the number of elements reporting to the Administrator. The task force recommended also that (1) a similar study be made of the FAA regional organization, with a view to consolidating regional functions and reducing the regions in number, and (2) that regional Engineering and Manufacturing (E & M) personnel engaged in aircraft certification be transferred from the regions to one or more E & M technical field centers that would report to FAA Headquarters at a level just below the Administrator.

* That FAA should strengthen its long-range research and development activity and establish one or more technical advisory committees. “

Don Brown
April 30, 2008