A Dysfunctional FAA

Implications: The FAA is mismanaged – not by the FAA leadership but by the micromanagement of Congress.  Until this problem is resolved there is risk to every aviation business and every business touched by aviation.  The one bright light is that business aviation and business aviation service companies are booming.  Without FAA reform these companies will also be affected.

Analysis:

The problems at the FAA began with airline deregulation.  Regulating a deregulated industry was an adjustment.  However, most but not all of today’s issues are operations not regulation.  All the FAA’s problems seem to be politically driven.  Last fall the FAA shut down one of the largest business jet charter companies alleging safety violations.  (See General Aviation Tsunami) This company had never had an accident since its founding over 20 years ago.  It had never received a safety violation.  Its independent operational auditors ranked the company as the best of the best.  But several years ago a foreign entity purchased 51% of the company.  For this sin the FAA shut down the company and levied a $100 million fine.

Next the FAA discovered a problem with Southwest Airlines inspection routine.  As that was being dealt with, Congress began demanding tighter oversight on inspections.  The FAA reacted by grounding the entire American Airlines MD80 fleet of over 300 aircraft.  700 to 1,000 flights a day were canceled, disrupting tens of thousands of passengers.  All this was over wiring bundle straps that were spaced a fraction of an inch out of tolerance.  The FAA demanded one inch spacing, while Boeing delivered many aircraft with 4 to 8 inch spacing.  There has never been a problem with these wiring bundles.

Airspace and airports have reached capacity.  Again Congress has created both problems.  The FAA has never been able to modernize Air Traffic Control.  Closing and consolidating facilities is subject to Congressional review and almost never happens.  Billions have been wasted on systems that were long delayed, far over budget, and eventually scrapped.  The controllers union, which has strong support from the majority in Congress, has been a major deterrent of modernization.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich in a paper My Plea to Republicans: It’s Time for Real Change to Avoid Disaster, says, "The problems of the Federal Aviation Administration are symptoms of a union-dominated bureaucracy resisting change."

It should not be just the Democrats that demand change.