Some airline experts strongly suggest that potential airline passengers avoid flying airlines that are not part of the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP). They cite the fact that pilots will be reluctant to report anomolies and errors fearing repercussions from the airlines.
American Airlines is the latest major airline to drop out of a federal safety program designed to encourage voluntary reporting of pilot errors before they resulted in crashes. AA joins Delta Airlines and US Airways in abandoning the Aviation Safety Action Program, or ASAP, which allows pilots to admit mistakes without fear of being punished.
The goal of the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) is to enhance aviation safety through the prevention of accidents and incidents. Its focus is to encourage voluntary reporting of safety issues and events that come to the attention of employees of certain certificate holders.
To encourage an employee to voluntarily report safety issues even though they may involve an alleged violation of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations (14 CFR), enforcement-related incentives have been designed into the program. An ASAP is based on a safety partnership that will include the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the certificate holder, and may include any third party such as the employee’s labor organization.
American Airlines had taken part for 14 years, and its program was used as a model at other carriers in the U.S. and abroad.
The pilots' union at American, the Allied Pilots Association, charged that American was using the program to discipline captains for inadvertent safety lapses, putting their jobs at risk. The union sought language to strengthen job protections for pilots who reported errors.
"We will not accept any process that labels our pilots as reckless, and discipline for inadvertent safety events must stop," union official Kevin Cornwell said at the time.
Tim Wagner, a spokesman for AMR Corp.'s American Airlines, said Friday the company preferred not to change provisions of the program but that the union balked and refused to extend the agreement. He said a self-reporting system from NASA is still in place.
Acting FAA chief Robert A. Sturgell said, "it is disheartening to see some of our carriers and pilot unions abandoning these programs at a time when we need them the most," Sturgell said. "I encourage you to separate safety from the labor issues and put these programs back in place."
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1 comment:
Exiting FAA Acting Administrator Bobby Sturgell:
“You’ll notice I’m throwing lots of new runways, equipment, money, jobs, acronyms, programs, kudos, and concocted self-serving study ‘results’ at communities right before I get chucked out of office. That’s on purpose. The concocted study results are a translucent attempt to make me appear to have actually been a regulator, rather than a simple aeromercantile shill. The runways, programs, and other rewards are called ‘bribes’. They are intended to buy the silence and cooperation of those that receive them. As for the other folks, I’ll just abuse them. For fun, I once again will try to blame Air Traffic Controllers, pilots, Congress, co-workers, community residents, Israel, India, the Philippines, potash miners, unions, Mother Nature, and even my economic co-conspirators the airlines on my way out the door, for all of my own failures. The remaining other folks, well, I’ll just tell FAA ‘Safety Officer’ Nick Sabatini to intimidate. My best strategy is comprised of the bribes, though. This provides me job security in the private sector for years to come, and might make everybody forget those 3,500-and-climbing aviation fatalities that occurred on my FAA watch”.
http://indictsturgell.blogspot.com/2008/10/failed-faa-pilot-bobby-sturgell-racks.html
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