FAA History Lesson -- June 13

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

”Jun 13, 1995: FAA unveiled the National Plan for Civil Aviation Human Factors, a joint FAA-DOD-NASA initiative. The Plan outlined a national agenda to eliminate aviation accidents caused by human error. Its elements included: identifying needs and problems involving human performance; guiding research programs to address the human element; involving the nation’s top scientists and aviation professionals; and sharing the resulting information with the aviation community. “

Do you think the FAA had to testify at a Congressional hearing on June 14th ?

For those scratching their heads right now...this week, when the FAA had to testify about controller staffing shortages (and hence controller fatigue), Hank Krakowski announced the FAA would be sponsoring a world conference on fatigue. I would point you towards more information about it but I can’t find any -- on Google or on the FAA’s own website.

It’s a typical FAA maneuver. Whenever the FAA is called on the carpet about the current conditions, they start talking about what they will do in the future. They also do things like slipping a “settlement offer” for NATCA under the door at the last minute so they can tell Congress they’ve made an offer but the union hasn’t responded. (I’ve got a response for them but I can’t print it.) And last, but not least, please note that the FAA sent the new guy -- Hank Krakowski -- to testify. It’s hard to blame the guy that didn’t create the problem and hasn’t been there long enough to figure out who the players are yet.

The current FAA management is pathetic. And they will remain that way until somebody comes along and cleans house.

"I think the stopping point is the White House and the OMB (Office of Management and Budget), frankly," Costello said. "Until it comes down from up top, we're going to be in this holding pattern."

Don Brown
June 13, 2008