Reviewing Airline Safety

Major airlines are working to improve their safety management programs and all meet basic federal regulations, says a government report that looks at the industry in general but contains few details about individual carriers.

The Federal Aviation Administration reviewed safety management at the largest airlines this summer and released a summary of its findings Friday.

Nick Lacey, director of the FAA's Flight Standards Service, said detailed reports on individual airlines wouldn't be available until early next year.

Overall, Lacey said, the basic safety programs in use are effective and airlines generally follow their written plans.

But, he added, "the FAA found that airlines could do a better job of documenting procedures for many of their programs."

Some airlines could do a better job of meeting safety audit due dates.

Where problems were found the airlines are acting to make improvements, he said.

It was a lack of maintenance documentation at Alaska Airlines that led the FAA to undertake the study of the major carriers.

After an Alaska Airlines crash last Jan. 31 killed 88 people, the FAA launched a close study of that airline's maintenance procedures and subsequently required major improvements. The cause of that crash has not yet been determined officially, but problems with a tail control system are suspected.

After completing the Alaska Airlines review, the agency decided to review safety maintenance management at the rest of the nation's 10 largest carriers.

The new report details what Lacey called "best practices," citing efforts in several areas in which airlines did well and set an example for the remainder of the industry. It does not cite specific problem areas for individual airlines, however.

Pressed by reporters, Lacey provided a quick airline rundown from memory, however. He said:

• American: Has a strong safety monitoring program, and he didn't recall anything significant that needed improvement.
• America West: Internal evaluation program to assure it is meeting government rules is among the best, but it still needs to work on monitoring its reliability and maintenance programs.
• Continental: Has some best practices, doesn't need any major makeovers.
• Delta: Has a strong safety program with no major areas needing improvement.
• Northwest: Reliability, maintenance programs have some advanced features; internal evaluation program for compliance with government rules "has a long way to go."
• Southwest: Solid in all areas.
• TWA: No dazzling programs, is working on the reliability and maintenance programs.
• United: Safety program has some outstanding features, solid on reliability, maintenance.
• US Airways: Safety program well managed, places more reliance on the FAA for monitoring compliance with government rules than Lacey would have expected.

In its review, the FAA found there were 43,794 air traffic control operations delayed during the month, up just 1 percent from September's 43,357 delays, but a massive 55 percent increase over October of last year.

The FAA regards a delay as any air traffic control operation that is 15 minutes or more late. Many operations may be required to complete a flight.

Declining disruption from thunderstorms in October saw weather-related delays fall 12 percent from the previous month, but congestion increased at New York's LaGuardia Airport, which is now blamed for nearly a quarter of delays nationally.

LaGuardia's delays have soared under legislation passed in April that lifted limits on some flights in an effort to boost competition and expand service to smaller communities.

To temporarily improve the situation, the FAA will cut the number of these new flights.

The agency said it also experienced a sharp increase in delays due to problems with its air traffic control equipment, mainly at its Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Oakland centers that handle high-altitude traffic.

Delays from all causes, including runway repair and traffic volume, were all up from October a year ago.

For the past two years, the U.S. air traffic control system has been struggling to cope with increased traffic, particularly during the summer months, when thunderstorms play havoc with crowded flight paths.

Coordination of the control system has been centralized and the FAA has increased cooperation with airlines to alleviate the problems, but experts agree new air traffic control technologies and more runways must come on-stream to make a real difference.

Written By Randolph E. Schmid