Airlines, Pilots Say Safety Plan in Jeopardy
02-18-2008, 08:05 AM
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Airlines, Pilots Say Safety Plan in Jeopardy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/15/AR2008021503192.html
Airlines, Pilots Say Safety Plan in Jeopardy
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 16, 2008; Page D01
Airlines and pilot groups say they may be forced to curtail a critical federal safety program after a federal judge's order requiring a regional carrier to disclose pilot incident reports to families suing the airline over a fatal 2006 crash.
Pilots and other workers, including flight attendants and mechanics, voluntarily file incident reports as part of a federal program to encourage disclosure in exchange for confidentiality. The workers are almost never punished for revealing their errors if they quickly report them and if their statements are the only source of information about the incident. Workers have filed tens of thousands of such reports in the past decade, which regulators and the airlines analyze to find potential hazards.
Safety experts worry that the judge's decision may lead some airlines to leave the program or deter employees from participating.
"It is a dangerous precedent," said Kenneth P. Quinn, general counsel for the Flight Safety Foundation. "There will be a chilling effect on employees desiring to voluntarily cooperate in the programs."
Dozens of airlines participate in the Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Safety Action Program, which started in the mid-1990s.
Airlines may also stop participating in a program that allows them to cull data retrieved from planes that help pinpoint problems that might go unnoticed or unreported by pilots, airlines and safety experts said.
More than two dozen families are suing Comair, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, over the fatal crash of one of its regional jets on Aug. 27, 2006, in Lexington, Ky. The pilots tried to take off from the wrong runway, which was too short for their plane. The jet hit a berm and exploded, killing 49 people on board. Only the co-pilot survived. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the pilots were mostly to blame for the crash.
Lawyers representing the families requested the airline's pilot reports detailing other runway incidents because they think the documents might show that Comair did not take action after learning of similar previous problems.
"The reports . . . directly relate to whether Comair appropriately evaluated and/or considered the safety information its own pilots were reporting," the families' lawyers argued in court papers.
Comair, the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at the airline, and trade groups filed briefs seeking to block the request. They argued that Congress and the FAA intended the reports to remain confidential. They also worried that carriers would abandon the reporting program because the information could be used against them in lawsuits. They noted that the program has helped regulators and airlines reduce a variety of threats.
But Magistrate Judge James B. Todd ruled that the reports must be turned over to the families because Congress did not bar the release of such documents in such circumstances. He also wrote that he did not believe that disclosure of the documents would hamper the safety program.
"There are many incentives for reporting to continue, not least of which is the future personal safety of the crew and passengers," Todd wrote, adding that such programs reduce safety threats that could lead to lawsuits.
Representatives of Comair, which is seeking to reverse the ruling, declined to comment. Lawyers for the families did not respond to voice-mail messages.
In legal filings, the FAA said it would prefer that the incident reports not be "subject to broad use in litigation." Its lawyers wrote that regulators thought that employees would be less likely to provide information if the reports were not kept confidential. A spokeswoman for the FAA declined to comment about the case.
The Air Transport Association, a District-based trade group that represents many major airlines, and Southwest Airlines became so concerned about the ruling's potential impact that they filed motions last week urging the judge to reconsider.
"Quite simply, if airline industry personnel know that filing an ASAP report has the potential to embroil them in civil litigation, they will be much less likely to report potential safety problems," Southwest's lawyers wrote.
Southwest said its pilots filed 2,973 reports in 2006. Nearly all -- 2,920 -- were "sole-source" statements, meaning that regulators and the carrier learned about the incidents only from the pilots, the carrier's attorneys said.
The loss of such reports "could deprive the airline industry of key safety information," its lawyers argued.
Staff researcher Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.
Airlines, Pilots Say Safety Plan in Jeopardy
By Del Quentin Wilber
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 16, 2008; Page D01
Airlines and pilot groups say they may be forced to curtail a critical federal safety program after a federal judge's order requiring a regional carrier to disclose pilot incident reports to families suing the airline over a fatal 2006 crash.
Pilots and other workers, including flight attendants and mechanics, voluntarily file incident reports as part of a federal program to encourage disclosure in exchange for confidentiality. The workers are almost never punished for revealing their errors if they quickly report them and if their statements are the only source of information about the incident. Workers have filed tens of thousands of such reports in the past decade, which regulators and the airlines analyze to find potential hazards.
Safety experts worry that the judge's decision may lead some airlines to leave the program or deter employees from participating.
"It is a dangerous precedent," said Kenneth P. Quinn, general counsel for the Flight Safety Foundation. "There will be a chilling effect on employees desiring to voluntarily cooperate in the programs."
Dozens of airlines participate in the Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Safety Action Program, which started in the mid-1990s.
Airlines may also stop participating in a program that allows them to cull data retrieved from planes that help pinpoint problems that might go unnoticed or unreported by pilots, airlines and safety experts said.
More than two dozen families are suing Comair, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, over the fatal crash of one of its regional jets on Aug. 27, 2006, in Lexington, Ky. The pilots tried to take off from the wrong runway, which was too short for their plane. The jet hit a berm and exploded, killing 49 people on board. Only the co-pilot survived. The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the pilots were mostly to blame for the crash.
Lawyers representing the families requested the airline's pilot reports detailing other runway incidents because they think the documents might show that Comair did not take action after learning of similar previous problems.
"The reports . . . directly relate to whether Comair appropriately evaluated and/or considered the safety information its own pilots were reporting," the families' lawyers argued in court papers.
Comair, the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents pilots at the airline, and trade groups filed briefs seeking to block the request. They argued that Congress and the FAA intended the reports to remain confidential. They also worried that carriers would abandon the reporting program because the information could be used against them in lawsuits. They noted that the program has helped regulators and airlines reduce a variety of threats.
But Magistrate Judge James B. Todd ruled that the reports must be turned over to the families because Congress did not bar the release of such documents in such circumstances. He also wrote that he did not believe that disclosure of the documents would hamper the safety program.
"There are many incentives for reporting to continue, not least of which is the future personal safety of the crew and passengers," Todd wrote, adding that such programs reduce safety threats that could lead to lawsuits.
Representatives of Comair, which is seeking to reverse the ruling, declined to comment. Lawyers for the families did not respond to voice-mail messages.
In legal filings, the FAA said it would prefer that the incident reports not be "subject to broad use in litigation." Its lawyers wrote that regulators thought that employees would be less likely to provide information if the reports were not kept confidential. A spokeswoman for the FAA declined to comment about the case.
The Air Transport Association, a District-based trade group that represents many major airlines, and Southwest Airlines became so concerned about the ruling's potential impact that they filed motions last week urging the judge to reconsider.
"Quite simply, if airline industry personnel know that filing an ASAP report has the potential to embroil them in civil litigation, they will be much less likely to report potential safety problems," Southwest's lawyers wrote.
Southwest said its pilots filed 2,973 reports in 2006. Nearly all -- 2,920 -- were "sole-source" statements, meaning that regulators and the carrier learned about the incidents only from the pilots, the carrier's attorneys said.
The loss of such reports "could deprive the airline industry of key safety information," its lawyers argued.
Staff researcher Magda Jean-Louis contributed to this report.
02-18-2008, 08:28 AM
#2
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/15/AR2008021503192.html
He also wrote that he did not believe that disclosure of the documents would hamper the safety program.
In legal filings, the FAA said it would prefer that the incident reports not be "subject to broad use in litigation." Its lawyers wrote that regulators thought that employees would be less likely to provide information if the reports were not kept confidential.
He also wrote that he did not believe that disclosure of the documents would hamper the safety program.
In legal filings, the FAA said it would prefer that the incident reports not be "subject to broad use in litigation." Its lawyers wrote that regulators thought that employees would be less likely to provide information if the reports were not kept confidential.
02-18-2008, 08:35 AM
#3
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Deffinitly not good... Scary to think what kind of precedence that could set. People are prone to mistakes - and ASAP programs, NASA forms etc. are a key way to learn from other peoples mistakes and offer some little bit of protection for coming forward, if someone does self disclose I think its safe to say they learned their lesson and were lucky enough to walk alway. I could see this opening up a whole can of worms...
02-18-2008, 09:03 AM
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"Quite simply, if airline industry personnel know that filing an ASAP report has the potential to embroil them in civil litigation, they will be much less likely to report potential safety problems," Southwest's lawyers wrote.
Southwest said its pilots filed 2,973 reports in 2006. Nearly all -- 2,920 -- were "sole-source" statements, meaning that regulators and the carrier learned about the incidents only from the pilots, the carrier's attorneys said.
The loss of such reports "could deprive the airline industry of key safety information," its lawyers argued.
Southwest said its pilots filed 2,973 reports in 2006. Nearly all -- 2,920 -- were "sole-source" statements, meaning that regulators and the carrier learned about the incidents only from the pilots, the carrier's attorneys said.
The loss of such reports "could deprive the airline industry of key safety information," its lawyers argued.
Neither of which is as effective as the folks out there with their sleeves rolled up punching holes in the sky.
Hopefully, Judge Judy will do the right thing.
FF
02-18-2008, 09:09 AM
#5
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Position: Executive Transport Driver
Posts: 3,080
This is an issue that individual pilots need to jump on collectively. WRITE YOUR REPS IN CONGRESS! Urge them for proper protections.
ASAP is one of the most successful reporting programs and has contributed SIGNIFICANTLY to aviation safety (for everybody) since it was implemented. It has resulted in procedural changes, chart changes, regulatory changes and provided insight to many shortcomings of the system.
This ruling has te potential for a dramatic impact on the number of pilots willing to participate (regardless of what some boneheaded judge may say- at the end of the day pilots WILL cover their ___).
ASAP is one of the most successful reporting programs and has contributed SIGNIFICANTLY to aviation safety (for everybody) since it was implemented. It has resulted in procedural changes, chart changes, regulatory changes and provided insight to many shortcomings of the system.
This ruling has te potential for a dramatic impact on the number of pilots willing to participate (regardless of what some boneheaded judge may say- at the end of the day pilots WILL cover their ___).
02-18-2008, 10:36 AM
#7
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Posts: 467
The FAA and airlines have mostly been reactive instead of proactive due to cost with regards to safety. Now they may mess with the way the ASAP program is set up? What happens to TSA agents when they miss fake bombs and stuff like that?
02-18-2008, 10:46 AM
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Another bad precedent. I also STRONGLY object to reading the full voice recorder in the newspaper and seeing the pilots specifically reported about. I hope I never get into an incident or accident, but I surely don't think that my family being drug through the mud is going to put anyone's life back together.
02-18-2008, 01:50 PM
#9
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Posts: 645
Lawyers & plantiffs today....
My own recollection of the 70's and the 80's was a time when families didn't sue each other because Billy accidentally hit Bobby with a baseball.
What the heck happened to good old fashion values?
Gotta love/hate the baby-boomers......
What the heck happened to good old fashion values?
Gotta love/hate the baby-boomers......
02-18-2008, 02:51 PM
#10
No one's home
Joined APC: Sep 2006
Posts: 1,091
FOQA is real world, real time and with this idiot judge's ruling FOQA, ASRS and inhouse ASAPs are in jeopardy. No one is going to say, "This is what happened today..." when they think they are going to be hoisted high on their own pitard.
This crap has happened before in other countries and the effect was chilling, to use the term, on the number of reports. It basically curtailed the data stream of real world events because no one was willing to admit something and airlines wanted no part of a data collection program that could eventually place a noose around the company's neck because an uninformed, untrained, emotional jury decided the company didn't 'do enough.' It is always easy after the event to 'connect the dots' and to erroneously conclude 'they didn't do enough.'
FOQA, ASAP and other similar programs are NOT for individual events but for the overall environment and if this idiot judge who has no knowledge of a bigger world is not reversed, watch years if not decades of work come to a grinding halt.... and possibly an increase in smoking holes because real world data was not collected and analyzed.
This need Congress, the FAA and others to jump on this with BOTH feet. Anything less and some benefit to the detriment of many.
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