Danger in the air Claudia Sonea

On Wednesday congressional investigators revealed that due to faltering federal leadership, malfunctioning technology and overworked controllers there is the risk of a catastrophic collision on U.S. airport runways. Although the Federal Aviation Administration reduced runway safety incidents from a peak in 2001, in time their efforts lost the initial intensity as a consequence of the number of incidents settling at a lower level and finally this year budget that ended on September 30 showed a shocking number of 6.05 incidents per 1 million air traffic control operations that was very close to the one in 2001. The Government Accountability Office said in a report requested by Rep. Jerry F. Costello, D-Ill., and Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J. the charge of assessing the causes of runway safety problems is not assumed by anyone and that led to the fill of the blank by former Federal Aviation Administrator Marion Blakey in August who held a conference with the purpose of finding quick actions. Two months later FAA reported progress on recommendations from the conference improving runway markings and pilot training. However, GAO recommended more leadership from the FAA, better data collection and less overtime required of controllers. Lautenberg lays the entire blame on Bush administration and its indifference to passenger safety. FAA responded to the report with figures and said that it has reached its goal of reducing the most serious incursions by almost 25 percent in 2007 and the overtime can be solved through stepped-up hiring. Laura Brown, the spokesperson of FAA, contradicted Lautenberg and said that their priority is passengers' safety. Still, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee on aviation says the FAA acts only under the spot light and also together with Democratic Rep. James Oberstar of Minnesota, the full committee chairman, urged quick approval of a House-passed FAA bill that would provide $42 million for incursion reduction and $72 million for runway lighting; require an FAA runway safety and technology plan; and force the FAA to reopen contract negotiations with controllers. The struggle between GAO and FAA continues with the FAA imposed contract on the controllers' union in 2006 that complemented by cut controller staff to respond to traffic pattern changes from airline mergers and bankruptcies is considered to be the main cause of fatigue. To reinforce this believe comes not only the fact that experienced controllers have retired much faster than the agency predicted, but also the incidents on August 16 with two commercial jets, on July 11 (Delta Boeing 757 touched down in Fort Lauderdale) and on July 5. Indeed FAA has not made a safety plan since 2002 and sings the same tune of being safer than ever. If they want to avoid bankruptcy on passengers expensive, something must change and Bush administration should stop reject the solution suggested by Costello. Don't go away, more news on the matter soon.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20071206/ap_tr_ge/travel_briefs_runway_safety;_ylt=AtTNZzrBRYa0B.YeU30giHis0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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edited by Tatiana Kucharikova