Washington, DC -- Noting the charter industry completed three years without a single passenger fatality for the first time in its history, National Air Transportation Association President James Coyne questioned FAA Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety Nick Sabatini about the lack of uniformity in FAA regulatory interpretations. The question arose from the fact that FAA headquarters inspectors are overturning rulings by local inspectors which have led to violations against operators who are actually following their FAA approved manuals and practices. Related Story
“You talk about the role of the regulator, but to most of us regulator is a real person at a FSDO (Flight Standards District Office) in our communities,” said Coyne. “If they say something, we feel it is to be believed and trusted but since the politics of this spring, their decisions are being second guessed by politicians. We now have a view that our regulators are less dependable and many times, we feel that what they now tell us we cannot take for fact.”
Sabatini responded by saying the question was legitimate but FAA wanted to eliminate the impression that operators can shop for less stringent FSDOs and ACOs. “We introduced the customer service initiatives to respond to allegations,” he said. “This is not a theoretical exercise. We set out to ensure consistency and standardization. We do this on behalf of public, the customers, on whose behalf we interact with you. You are entitled to good public service. What we expect of FAA inspectors is they abide by regulations, interpretations, policy and guidance materials we publish. We are on the road to changing the fact that consistency doesn’t exist. We need to get to a place at which we can walk in lock step. Are there times when inspectors incorrectly applied guidance? Yes, but we are hoping to get rid of that.”
But, countered Coyne, “that makes it sound like the FSDO folks are the only one who make mistakes. Your legal department also makes mistakes.”
He also groused about the response time for FAA to answer an operator’s request. “Isn’t there some way to have an emergency meeting at the FAA to deal with delays on these requests which are costing our industry hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars?”
Sabatini did not respond directly but did indicate that FAA is overwhelmed to the point where it has told Congress it has to say no to taking on additional work.
Coyne also expressed concern over the legal protection for those who take advantage of voluntary reporting systems, noting that courts are “going in the wrong direction by criminalizing safety data and creating barriers for carriers to share data.” NATA members want the same protection enjoyed by the commercial airline industry.
Sabatini indicated FAA has the statutory authority to protect info and if NATA has a program, it will add it. He noted that the U.S. has had no case where an FAR violation has been used in court, although he acknowledged that is happening around the world. “We are working on Congress to reinforce statutory protection to prevent disclosure of data,” he said.