Public Safety or Public Image?

Over the last few weeks the FAA has initiated a campaign to enforce the agency's inspection guidelines. This action comes after congressional investigators found out that some Southwest Airlines planes had not been inspected as mandated by FAA guidelines. The agency issued a 10.2 million dollar penalty against Southwest for flying planes that missed inspections. So now the agency, under intense scrutiny by congress has started enforcing its so-called mandatory guidelines.

Air carriers such as Delta, United, Southwest and American all grounded flights to inspect wiring in the wheel wells of their MD-80 jets. At issue is the spacing and direction of the wiring in the planes' auxiliary hydraulic systems. The airlines insist that safety was never compromised; however thousands of flights were cancelled so planes could be reinspected.

Here is my concern, if a plane has been inspected and passed why would there be a need to reinspect a plane. I would think that the inspectors would have caught any problems the first time, well that's the way it is suppose to work. American Airlines took the biggest hit so far, grounding more than 3,000 flights and affecting more than 300,000 passengers. I think if the FAA wasn't trying to protect their own hides, they could have allowed the airlines to reinspect the planes in stages as not to disrupt air travel. The air industry is already fighting rising fuel costs and trying to stay out of bankruptcy, the loss of revenue like American airlines has experienced isn't helping.

I know there are some who say that the airlines have brought some of this trouble on themselves by not completing the mandatory inspections in the first place, but I counter that argument. If the agency which regulates the industry and enforces the guidelines gives you a pass or turns a blind eye for years why would they (the airlines) think that mandatory inspections are actually mandatory?

The FAA has been accused of being too cozy with the airline industry, and maybe its true. I think that the agency needs to maintain a certain level of partnership with the airlines in order to better protect the public. But it's very obvious that the agency dropped the ball when comes to enforcement. Investigators are working on new cases of guidelines not being met so I wouldn't be surprised if there are more rounds of flight cancellations.

Bottom line, the agency charged with the safety of America's aviation system has to enforce its own directives. The public has to be able to trust that the government is watching out for its safety. The airlines need to shape up and start running a tighter ship.