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AIRLINE INSPECTIONS, SECURITY AND THE FAA

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in some circles, is known as the "tombstone agency"! The FAA is the so-called aviation and commercial passenger airline industry safety watchdog. However, it has been accused by airline industry "insiders" as possibly too often waiting for passenger airliner accidents to occur before ever conducting thorough safety investigations or really doing anything to completely solve commercial passenger safety, equipment and pilot problems quickly, at least by critics' standards.

Critics charge the FAA is ineffective because it has too often been run by former airline industry officials who seemingly may be overly concerned with airline industry profits and, by comparison, possibly being not as concerned for commercial airline passenger safety! Any new rules and governmental regulations too often hit the airline industry with expenses that may not be easily passed on to commecial airline passengers.

In areas of crash protection, critics feel the FAA, the government's watchdog, may need an independent, non-governmental watchdog to keep an eye on the government's watchdog, the FAA! In fact, FAA inspectors may seemingly be paying more attention to airline safety paperwork than they are to giving attention to detail concerning actual passenger aircraft and pilot concerns! FAA inspectors have even been accused of possibly looking the other way when it comes to actual "on site" commercial airline safety inspections.

Airline mechanic management may also possibly be covering up safety violations then get the airline mechanics to knowingly or unknowingly go along with the "cover up", potentially compromising commercial passenger safety. Of course, critics charge the FAA then turns around and makes the usual claims by defending, deflecting and denying any criticism!

How do you even know if commercial airliners are closely inspected by FAA inspectors? You do not! In fact, up close, scrutinizing inspections may not be as routine as you would like to expect.

Are commercial airline companies getting away with compromising passenger safety based on "cost benefit ratios"? An airline's cost benefit analysis concerning potential passenger safety problems may compare the cost of losing human life in an accident against the cost of making costly repairs or safety modifications.

Does the FAA have safety facts, figures and information that it may be keeping secret for fear of causing widespread panic among the flying public? If there ever was full disclosure to the public, it certainly may cause loss of airline company revenue and possibly lead to costly passenger safety improvements.

SUPPLEMENTAL SOURCES: CBS-TV 60 MINUTES 3/23/97 and CNBC-TV STEALS AND DEALS 4/30/96

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