50TH ANNUAL TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH FORUM MARCH 16-18-2009 PORTLAND, OREGON-DOUBLETREE HOTEL - LLOYD CENTER

摘要

In May 2008 the FAA completed an assessment regarding inspections at majorairlines. The assessment concluded with findings that the FAA failed to perform morethan 100 recommended safety reviews at major air carriers in recent years. According toan article published in the Wall Street Journal, the importance of this examinationbecame clear earlier in 2008 because of revelations that FAA managers allowed Dallas,Texas based Airline Southwest Airlines to fly airplanes that hadn’t undergone mandatorystructural safety inspections. The article also stated that The FAA hadn’t reviewedSouthwest’s system for complying with agency safety directives since 1999. Theresearcher will provide a qualitative approach and collect opinion data to support theprevious stated questions. The researcher also intends to research possible examples ofmore efficient ways for the FAA and the Airline industry to manage and communicateissues that could possibly lead to deviations in federal regulations, and that couldsubsequently lead to an incident or accident.Since the Air Transportation Oversight System (ATOS) program is designed tosupport the airline regarding possible issues within their perspective departments, theinterface with the FAA ATOS program needs to be reviewed to determine if the ATOSprogram should be voluntary or mandatory. Essential voluntary programs such as theInternal Evaluation Program (IEP), Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP),Maintenance Safety Action Program (MSAP) and Dispatch Safety Action Program(DSAP) require oversight by the FAA. There is a need to determine the effects of ATOSbecoming mandatory or voluntary and the effects of the FAA ATOS system interface hason the voluntary airline safety programs. The researcher intends to answer the followingtwo questions explicitly to support this ongoing issue with the FAA and the airlineindustry; since the ATOS system was designed for the FAA to provide active oversight tothe airlines from a system safety perspective and for the airlines to communicate theiroversight to the FAA:1. Should ATOS become voluntary or a regulation for Air Carriers; Should the IEPcontinue to be voluntary?2. Should there be more active oversight within the FAA regarding its interface withthe Air Carrier?