Transportation Hearing on FAA Safety Oversight of Airlines
April 3, 2008
The Transportation Committee is currently holding a hearing, "Critical Lapses in FAA Safety Oversight of Airlines: Abuses of Regulatory 'Partnership Programs.'"
Chairman Jim Oberstar questions executives from Southwest Airlines:
| Chairman Oberstar: "Now, I don't want to be nitpicky, but it bothers me to hear some one of your calibur say 'it was a tiny part of the aircraft.' It was a tiny part of that Aloha 737 that began to unravel. It always starts with a tiny part. And that is why airworthiness directives are issued, and that is why there is a requirement for rigorous inspection..." |
John Bassler, Assistant Principle Avionics Inspector, SWA-CMO, gives testimony on disarray during his work at the Southwest Airlines Certificate Management Offices at FAA. In particular he discusses the Safety Attribute Inspection (SAI) he volunteered to perform for Southwest under Charalambe "Bobby" Coutris:
| John Bassler: "Had I known at the time Mr. Boutris' intentions, I would have never volunteered byself for this assignment. It wasn't a couple of days later I witnessed Mr. Boutris entering my cubicle and removing data from the SAI folder I had just acquired from him. Mr. Boutris never started the SAI. He had a couple notes on the decision collection tool, but that was it. I had to start the inspection completely from scratch. I began to become aware of the militant attitudes that were developing in the office by the individuals I have identified in the aforementioned paragraph, I became concerned that I was going to be targeted by these inspectors due to my agreeing to perform the SAI. I sent an email to my supervisor requesting that I be removed from the SAI because of the hostile environment developing in the office. My supervisor refused..." |