Veteran FAA inspectors told lawmakers on April 3 that their supervisors looked the other way while Southwest Airlines neglected to inspect planes as required, and continued to fly them even after discovering cracks in some of them. The inspectors said their bosses threatened to relieve them of their duties. One was removed from his job as an office manager and another was encouraged to apply for a transfer, they said. A third said he was temporarily removed from his role overseeing Southwest as a result of complaints by the airline. The FAA has since proposed a fine of $10.2 million against Southwest, because it flew tens of thousands of flights without performing inspections of the fuselage skin. The hearing was held by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, whose chairman, James L. Oberstar of Minnesota, said: “this investigation is not just about improper activities by one airline and one FAA supervisor in the office directly overseeing that airline. It raises serious questions about whether higher officials in FAA are carrying out their safety responsibilities for the entire industry.” The FAA acknowledged some of the problems cited by the inspectors. Nicholas A. Sabatini, the associate administrator for safety, said the Southwest case was an aberration. “The safety record simply does not support allegations that the system and the FAA are broken,” he stated. But Tom Brantley, national president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists, AFL-CIO (PASS), said "The FAA has not only promoted an internal culture where safety is given second billing, but it has manipulated every aspect of the enforcement process in order to encourage and maintain a positive relationship between the agency and the airlines.”