Southwest Airlines and the Federal Aviation Administration falsifiedsafety reports

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Southwest Airlines, FAA accused of falsifying safety reports

House panel releases report that states Southwest, agency falsified
safety records

01:49 PM CDT on Tuesday, March 11, 2008

By DAVE MICHAELS / The Dallas Morning News


WASHINGTON - Officials for Southwest Airlines and the Federal Aviation
Administration "falsified the report" that said the airline had come
into compliance with rules for crucial safety inspections for jets,
according to records released by a U.S. House committee.

That allegation appears in more than 90 pages of documents that
suggest a culture of cronyism compromised the FAA's oversight of
Southwest Airlines in Dallas. Two whistle-blowers said FAA supervisors
and colleagues undermined their efforts to get Southwest to comply
with federal directives.
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The FAA has fined Southwest $10.2 million for continuing to fly more
than three dozen jets that were 30 months late for safety inspections
and should have been grounded until the work was done. But the agency
hasn't fired any employees over the incident, which has embarrassed
the FAA and called into question its partnership approach to
regulating airlines.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters suggested Monday that more
disciplinary actions could be handed down.

"If any inspector failed in his or her responsibilities to the
traveling public, they will be dealt with swiftly and severely," Ms.
Peters told a conference in Washington. "There is simply no margin for
error when it comes to the safety of our aviation system."

A Southwest spokeswoman said the carrier hasn't reviewed the specifics
of the whistle-blower complaints and couldn't comment on the
allegations.

Southwest first reported its failure to perform fuselage inspections
on March 15, 2007. In a report approved by an FAA official in Irving,
the airline said it had come into compliance - meaning it had stopped
flying jets that required inspections.

In fact, the airline continued to fly most of the jets for another
eight days.

The U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which investigates whistle-blower
complaints, reported allegations in December that Southwest's
regulatory official "falsely stated" and an FAA supervisor "falsely
accepted" the airline's statement.

"For them to indicate in a report that the carrier had grounded their
airplanes until they finished their inspections, only for someone else
to find out that they continued to fly, is a very serious situation,"
said Linda Goodrich, regional vice president of Professional Aviation
Safety Specialists, the union representing safety inspectors.

Failure to confirm

Peggy Gilligan, the FAA's deputy associate administrator for aviation
safety, said the FAA supervisor failed to confirm that Southwest had
grounded the jets, but the agency hasn't determined whether he
knowingly misled anyone.

"All that is under review," Ms. Gilligan said.

The FAA supervisor who approved the form, Douglas T. Gawadzinski,
later told FAA investigators that "there was never a concern with the
airworthiness of the aircraft," according to an April 18 memo from FAA
investigators.

Those investigators concluded that Mr. Gawadzinski's statement was
absurd because six of the jets were found to have cracks - some as
long as 3.5 inches. But they couldn't conclude that Mr. Gawadzinski
allowed Southwest's jets to keep flying to "provide relief to schedule
the inspections at the airline's convenience," according to the memo.

Mr. Gawadzinski, of North Richland Hills, declined to comment. The FAA
has transferred him from the office overseeing Southwest Airlines.

According to one of the whistle-blowers, Mr. Gawadzinski stopped being
strict with Southwest after a former FAA colleague, Paul Comeau,
joined the airline. Previously, the whistle-blower said, the FAA had
forced jets needing inspections to stop flying.

'Cozy relationship'

"His position directly interfaces with our office on a daily basis in
regard to regulatory compliance issues," the whistle-blower, C. Bobby
Boutris, wrote. "It is obvious that the cozy relationship between
Gawadzinski and Comeau played a contributing factor ... and allowed 47
aircraft to fly paying passengers with a known unsafe condition."

Rep. James Oberstar, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation
and Infrastructure, has largely supported the inspectors' claims.

Mr. Oberstar, D-Minn., will chair a congressional hearing about the
FAA's partnership approach to oversight in early April.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D- Dallas, said Monday that she's
concerned the FAA "has been pretty derelict to not follow their
guidelines." Southwest hasn't directly contacted her, although the
airline has spoken with her staff, Ms. Johnson said.

"Anytime that the relationship [between carrier and regulator] is such
that it could subject passengers to unsafe conditions, it's time for
something to be done about it," said Ms. Johnson, who chairs one of
the committee's sub-panels.

At a news conference Friday, Mr. Oberstar said he might propose a law
prohibiting FAA inspectors from going to work for the airlines for a
year or two. He also called for inspectors to be rotated between
assignments "as a countermeasure against developing a cozy
relationship" with airline employees.

Southwest chief executive Gary Kelly said last week that the self-
reporting system is beneficial because it encourages carriers to
disclose problems without fearing punishment.

"You need to have an environment where you can be honest and not have
to fear retaliation or intimidation," Mr. Kelly said. "If errors are
suppressed by fear, that is a far, far worse result in the safety
environment."

The records unveiled Monday suggest that other inspectors' attempts to
investigate Southwest were compromised.

An internal investigation into the way Mr. Gawadzinski handled
Southwest's violations was leaked to the airline, according to a
second inspector who spoke with congressional investigators.

Mr. Boutris was removed from his oversight position after an anonymous
complaint was made to Southwest about him; Mr. Boutris told
investigators that the inquiry lasted seven months and resulted in no
discipline.

Ms. Goodrich said Mr. Oberstar's investigation, as well as an earlier
investigation into similar problems at Northwest Airlines, have caused
more inspectors to come forward with claims that supervisors have
quashed or limited their investigations.

"We have had people literally come out of the woodwork saying I have a
similar issue," said Ms. Goodrich. "I think we are going to be hearing
other people coming forward."

wait, so the FAA allowed Southwest to miss inspections (with the
knowledge of the FAA), then fines Southwest? I think the FAA should
fine itself too!