New fallout from last week’s congressional hearing into airline safety and the FAA’s oversight role, which I covered in Washington. The following is a press release just sent out by the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee:
WASHINGTON—The Chairman and two Subcommittee Chairmen of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure have charged three government officials with presenting “inaccurate and misleading” statements to the Committee during an April 3 hearing.
Full Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar (Minn.), Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman Peter A. DeFazio (Ore.), and Aviation Subcommittee Chairman Jerry F. Costello made the charges in a letter sent today. The letter was addressed to three witnesses at the hearing on the Federal Aviation Administration’s oversight of aircraft inspections: Nicholas A. Sabatini, FAA’s Associate Administrator for Aviation Safety; James J. Ballough, Director of FAA’s Flight Standards Service; and Thomas Stuckey, then Manager of the Flight Standards Division for FAA’s Southwest Region. Stuckey has since been reassigned to other non-safety-related duties in the agency.
”We are deeply disturbed about statements that you made, under oath, to the Committee at our recent hearing on April 3, 2008, on ‘Critical Lapses in FAA Safety Oversight’ on issues involving the so called Customer Service Initiative (CSI). We believe that your testimony conveyed inaccurate and misleading information about whether Aviation Safety Inspectors and Managers in the Flight Standards Service (which Mr. Ballough directs) were ordered to conduct special meetings with all airlines, repair stations and other regulated entities to deliver and discuss the CSI,” the letter begins.
The letter goes on to provide evidence and testimony to counter sworn statements made by the three FAA officials. It concludes…
“We cannot condone misleading testimony in our hearings, and in last week’s hearing you were sworn under oath to tell the truth. The hearings are the basis for carrying out our legislative and oversight responsibilities. We cannot decide whether reforms or different policies are needed unless we have an accurate picture of all relevant agency actions.”
Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters and Acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell were sent copies of the letter.
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