Transportation Department Is On The Ball

"Opinion"

04/18/2008

Paul Munnis


I’ve never met the head of the Transportation Agency, Mary Peters, but I know I would like her right off the bat. She is a no nonsense leader of a Federal Department who has a major Agency, the FAA, that is responsible for assuring aircraft safety in the U.S. and she is doing her job in a no-nonsense manner.

She is demanding the airlines apply the Air Worthiness Directives (AD's) issued by the Federal Aviation Agency. She wants to know if the FAA that reports to her has been getting cozy with the very airlines they are supposed to regulate.

Peters demanded that the FAA and American Airlines explain to her within 14 days why 250,000 U.S. air travelers endured canceled flights last week. American grounded its MD-80 jetliners and canceled 3,100 flights in order to inspect or redo wiring that was supposed to have been completed between Sept. 5, 2006 and March 5, 2008. That's plenty of time to get the job done.

Mary Peters is demanding compliance by mechanics in terms of proper application of the fixes contained in the AD’s and she is not letting them invent their own Rube Goldberg work-around’s.

That is what I want, for indeed I hate to think about commercial aircraft falling flaming from the sky and crashing into people’s homes or on top of schools or churches where innocent people could die because some airline wanted to save a buck.

Good job Mary – keep the heat on and make our skies just as safe as you possibly can. Get the FAA back doing its job and make the airlines keep their aircraft in good repair.

I think yours may be one of the few Bush Administration Cabinet positions doing its job properly and I support you in your efforts.

As for the airlines, conform to the Air Safety regulations or else sell your business to someone who will.