Friction escalates in air crash probe
Regulatory overload and overlapping jurisdictions make crash investigations more and more difficult. Once upon a time, crash investigators had the upper hand in releasing information. Today, the instant-information culture is making measured investigations more difficult and leads to delays in final findings.
Escalating public pressure for nearly instantaneous details about airliner incidents and accidents has shaken up the previously staid, traditional world of accident investigations. The safety board’s leaders increasingly are turning to Twitter to rush out details of significant findings —sometimes before advising on-site investigators of impending messages.
Those unconventional announcements in turn are prompting the FAA and industry players to speed up their internal investigations and responses.
The LaGuardia situation “is a good example of the multitude of information requests that come into the airline” after a typical crash or major incident, according to Timothy Logan, Southwest’s senior risk-management official. Even before investigators from the safety board had completed their preliminary inquiry, he said, regulators from a number of different offices within the FAA already were seeking some of the same information from the carrier.
Bill would require a second cockpit door on commercial aircraft
A bill stalled in committee would require airlines to install a second set of doors on cockpits so that pilots would be more secure. The bill, which would add to the aircraft’s costs that would then be passed on to passengers, is stuck in committee — a good place for it to stay.
The new bill suggests that planes are momentarily vulnerable when a pilot unlocks the door to use the restroom in the main cabin. Fitzpatrick’s [Rep. Michael G. Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.)] bill was referred to a congressional subcommittee in April, with no hearing date scheduled.
The debate over the barriers has grown heated, with federal law enforcement groups supporting the bill and the airline industry criticizing it for costing millions of dollars.
Regulator may force Ryanair to sell its stake in Aer Lingus
Ryanair is expecting to get an ultimatum from the Competition Commission that it sell its almost 30 percent holdings in Aer Lingus. The commission feels that the Ryanair holdings may distort the market and weaken Aer Lingus.
In May, the watchdog warned an enforced sale could be possible, saying Ryanair’s stake potentially distorted the market for flights between Ireland and Britain, adding it was likely to ”weaken its main competitor.”
It said the shareholding could hold Aer Lingus back from remaining competitive by threatening to block any merger or acquisition deals with other airlines.
The Competition Commission said in May: “Ryanair’s shareholding obstructs Aer Lingus’s ability to merge or combine with another airline to build scale and achieve synergies to remain competitive.”
Charlie Leocha is the President of Travelers United. He has been working in Washington, DC, for the past 14 years with Congress, the Department of Transportation, and industry stakeholders on travel issues. He was the first consumer representative to the Advisory Committee for Aviation Consumer Protections appointed by the Secretary of Transportation from 2012 through 2018.
