Oberstar issues angry letter to FAA on 'misleading' statements

Last update: April 8, 2008 - 8:48 PM

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WASHINGTON- Three House members on Tuesday charged Federal Aviation Administration officials with presenting "misleading" testimony about airline maintenance.

"Your testimony conveyed inaccurate and misleading information about whether aviation safety inspectors and managers ... were ordered to conduct special meetings with all airlines, repair stations and other regulated entities to deliver and discuss" the FAA's Customer Service Initiative, said a letter sent by Reps. Jim Oberstar, D-Minn., Jerry Costello, D-Ill., and Peter DeFazio, D-Ore.

The lawmakers questioned inconsistencies from the FAA officials' testimony last week about how regulators would implement the 2004 initiative, under which airlines can ask for review of FAA inspectors' decisions.

The new rules were to be delivered, discussed and documented with airlines and other regulated entities within 60 days of a February 2004 memo, but the FAA officials testified that the process could occur "during routine visits over the next year," the letter states.

An FAA spokeswoman disputed the letter's claims and said the three officials testified truthfully. "There appears to be some misunderstanding around dates and implementation of the [initiative]," Alison Duquette wrote in an e-mail. "Their testimony was in no way misleading."

Two FAA inspectors who exposed maintenance and inspection problems at Southwest Airlines were at the center of last week's hearing. They told lawmakers their jobs were threatened and their reports of noncompliance were ignored for years by superiors.

Transportation Committee Chairman Oberstar said then that as long as the FAA viewed the airlines as customers, "that culture of safety will not take hold and is not going to permeate the organization." The FAA's Nicholas Sabatini assured the committee he would immediately work to correct that internal problem of perception.

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